UN Special Coordinator Ján Kubiš Remarks after Meeting Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil

I am extremely honoured to be received some three or four hours after my arrival to the country by His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs and other high officials of the country. I take this as a very positive gesture. I take this also with a feeling of indebtedness, if you wish, because I feel I need to quickly reciprocate it by working together as excellent partners with both the country and the new government to make us even more relevant.

We, the UN and UNSCOL – which I will be heading as of now –we have a long history of working together with Lebanon and a long history of being of help and assistance to Lebanon. I can only pledge that in my work and the work of my colleagues we will do our best not to continue but to reinforce and to bring this partnership and cooperation to the next level, notably as regards the implementation of all our mandates, notably Resolution 1701 but also in working together with other parts of the United Nations to be a good and trusted partner of the country.

Thank you very much.