France will send more than 100 million euros ($118.54 million) worth of humanitarian aid to Lebanon, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday.
In the opening speech of the international support conference for Lebanon that he is co-hosting with the U.N., Macron affirmed that the Lebanese people can count on the international community.
“France will provide more than 100 million euros in emergency aid to Lebanon,” he said, stressing that France would continue to work to ensure that the aid is sent “directly” and “transparently” to the Lebanese people.
Macron also announced “urgent assistance in the matter of the activities of the [Port of Beirut].”
The crisis in Lebanon is the result of corruption and the dissociation of the political system, Macron added before urging the formation of a Lebanese government that would implement the recovery roadmap created for Lebanon more than a year ago.
“No blank check will be spent on the existing political system.”
“The entire political class exacerbated this crisis when it put its personal interests before the interests of the Lebanese people, and Lebanon deserves better than that,” the French President emphasized.
“I call for the formation of a mission-oriented and responsible government to take urgent measures, which will allow the international community to support Lebanon more.”
Through this international support conference, France hopes to raise 350 million euros to support the Lebanese people as their country reels from one of the worst economic crises recorded in the world in more than a century.
