Progress toward Lebanon receiving funding pledged at last year’s CEDRE conference will gain a major boost next month, a top adviser to Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Wednesday.
“The CEDRE conference is in good health and will be launched with a new dynamism in November,” Nadim Munla said during an interview with local TV channel LBCI.
At the April 2018 CEDRE conference, international donors pledged more than $11 billion in soft loans and grants in exchange for Lebanon implementing a series of key reforms.
A year and a half later, many of these reforms are still awaiting execution, raising concerns that the CEDRE money might be at risk.
However, French officials, including President Emmanuel Macron, have insisted France and the other donors are committed to their pledges.
Hariri said following a meeting with Macron in September that he was hoping to organize another meeting in Paris in November to push the CEDRE process forward.
The premier returned Tuesday from a three-day trip to Abu Dhabi for the UAE-Lebanon Investment Forum, which focused on potential investments in a number of sectors in Lebanon, such as renewable energy, agriculture, and oil and gas.
“[The Emiratis] said they will discuss [investment] internally and respond to Lebanon with their answer,” Munla said.
The Daily Star
09/10/2019
