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Viewing cable 09BEIRUT1247, GOVERNMENT LEADERS EMPHASIZE ECONOMIC REFORM WITH

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09BEIRUT1247 2009-11-24 11:19 2011-08-24 16:30 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Beirut
VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLB #1247/01 3281119
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241119Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6093
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 3705
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS 3842
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1501
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 3970
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 3558
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 4241
RHMCSUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
UNCLAS BEIRUT 001247 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM EAID PTER OREP LE
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT LEADERS EMPHASIZE ECONOMIC REFORM WITH 
CODEL PRICE 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  On November 10, Prime Minister Saad 
Hariri, President Michel Sleiman, Speaker of Parliament Nabih 
Berri, and former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora separately 
told visiting Codel Price that they welcomed U.S. 
congressional support to the Lebanese parliament and noted 
the multitude of tasks, including economic reform, that faced 
the new government.  Hariri told the Codel that he would 
immediately launch an economic reform plan focused on 
lowering public debt and increasing foreign investment. 
Berri welcomed parliamentary exchanges, and Sleiman expected 
that Lebanese dynamism would ensure the country's economic 
advancement and argued for solving the Palestinian-Israeli 
issue.  Siniora linked rising extremism in the Middle East to 
a lack of job opportunities and said Lebanon needed to focus 
on the implementation of already agreed-upon economic reform 
laws.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) As part of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) 
program, Codel Price, accompanied by Ambassador and poloffs, 
met with key Lebanese leaders on November 10.  Codel members 
were HDP Chairman David Price (D-NC); Ranking Member, Rep. 
David Dreier (R-CA); and Representatives Lois Capps (D-CA), 
Keith Ellison (D-MN), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Charles 
Boustany (R-LA). 
 
3. (SBU) Members of Codel Price congratulated President 
Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Parliament 
Speaker Nabih Berri, and former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora 
on the previous day's formation of the new government and 
expressed unwavering U.S. commitment to Lebanon.  The Codel 
also briefed their interlocutors on the House Democracy 
Partnership (HDP) program and emphasized their desire to 
continue working with Lebanon on the basis of 
"bipartisanship, friendship, and support." 
 
HARIRI TOUTS 
ECONOMIC AGENDA 
--------------- 
 
4. (SBU) Hariri declared that Lebanon needed "all the help it 
could get" to enact "proper reforms" to ensure its democracy. 
 He noted that without checks and balances, Lebanon would 
return to the "problems of the previous period" when control 
was ceded to external powers.  Building parliamentarians' 
capacity strengthened their ability to oversee the work of 
the executive, he assessed, adding that former Prime Minister 
Fouad Siniora, now leader of the Future Movement 
parliamentary bloc, would play an important mentoring role to 
new MPs. 
 
5. (SBU) Hariri said he planned "huge reforms" to grow 
Lebanon's economy.  Financial reform was key to energizing 
the private sector and investment, he emphasized.  The 
Lebanese government had passed economic reform legislation in 
2002, Hariri said, and now needed to focus on implementation. 
 Hariri reported that the opposition and the majority had 
agreed on the need for reforms -- including privatization -- 
so he had a "free pass" to move forward.  Hariri described 
himself as "completely focused" on lowering the public debt 
and described plans to increase foreign direct investment in 
services, such as electricity, to improve those sectors. 
Rep. Boustany urged Lebanon's accession to the World Trade 
Organization (WTO) and underscored the U.S. Congress' desire 
to help Lebanon reach its potential. 
 
BERRI SAYS 
MUCH WORK AHEAD 
--------------- 
 
6. (SBU) Rep. Price congratulated Parliamentary Speaker Nabih 
Berri for getting parliament "up and running" again and 
expressed HDP's desire to continue its work with the body. 
He also told Berri that HDP hoped to collaborate with the 
Lebanese parliament on establishing seminars for committee 
leaders and a resource center for MPs.  Berri expressed his 
support for cooperation between the parliament and the U.S. 
Congress, following the vote of confidence for the new 
government.  Parliament would need to address "everything," 
Berri assessed, including privatization, electricity, debt, 
and the Palestinian issue. 
 
SLEIMAN POINTS TO 
PALESTINIAN ISSUE 
----------------- 
 
7. (SBU) Lebanon has paid a high price in instability for the 
common values it shared with the United States, such as 
democracy, human rights, public freedoms, and fighting 
fanaticism, President Michel Sleiman told Codel Price.  Codel 
members explained that Lebanon had been an obvious choice for 
collaboration in the region, given those values.  Sleiman 
said that as army commander, he had felt strong U.S. support 
during the 2007 Nahr al-Barid campaign and that American 
support continued to help Lebanon maintain its "special role" 
in the region. 
 
8. (SBU) Sleiman argued that the key to preserving Lebanon's 
"cherished values" was to find peace between Israel and the 
Palestinians.  The restitution of Palestinian rights was the 
"most important" issue to the Lebanese because Lebanon could 
not provide a decent life for them.  Since the Palestinians 
could cause internal "trouble," he said, solving the 
Palestinian issue would put Lebanon's other problems "on 
track."  Sleiman noted that, for the first time, Lebanon had 
a government of its "own volition," and he assured Codel 
Price that he did not believe that U.S. engagement with Syria 
would come at Lebanon's expense. 
 
9. (SBU) Sleiman argued that Lebanon had gained the world's 
confidence as the "Switzerland of the Orient" through its 
ability to weather the financial downturn.  The Lebanese 
diaspora had also regained its confidence in the state, 
feeding the economy as well, he said.  Lebanon needed to 
build its institutions and push economic, political, 
judicial, and administrative reforms, and then it could 
address its public debt, Sleiman said.  Lebanese dynamism 
could make the country a trade, commercial, agricultural, and 
cultural center in the region, he believed. 
 
SINIORA LINKS ECONOMY 
AND EXTREMISM 
--------------------- 
 
10. (SBU) Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora observed that 
Lebanon was at the "crossroads" with the "forces of 
extremism" in the region.  Without constructive action on the 
many political and economic challenges facing the Arab world, 
he feared, "forces of extremism" would note the "meager 
results."  Siniora assessed that unless the Arab world 
created 100 million new jobs in the future to address its 
population surge, extremists would exploit governments' 
shortcomings.  The priority of the new government, Siniora 
confirmed, would be moving the backlog of over 100 
parliamentary-approved laws through the cabinet, with special 
focus on financial and administrative reform. 
 
11. (U) Codel Price has cleared this cable. 
DAUGHTON