The American mediator Amos Hochstein arrived in Lebanon to finalize the historic agreement to establish a permanent maritime boundary between Lebanon and Israel.
He handed President Michel Aoun the text of the official agreement to demarcate the maritime borders, and the signing of this agreement with Israel is a “historic achievement,” said deputy speaker Elias Bou Saab following the brief meeting at Baabda Palace.
Amos Hochstein in his turn said that the signing of an agreement demarcating the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel would bring about stability in the region.
“The agreement to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel will be a turning point for the Lebanese economy, and there are no provisions in the demarcation agreement that would delay Lebanon’s exploration of energy,” Hochstein went on to say.
“What is important now is not the achievement, but what will happen after it, and I hope that this agreement will bring about an economic transformation.”
Hochstein will then travel to Naqoura to take the final steps to bring Israel and Lebanon’s agreement into force.
The Lebanese envoy to Naqoura includes the Director General of the Presidency Antoine Choucair, Brigadier General P.S.C. Mounir Shehadeh, the government commissioner to the international forces, Wissam Shbat, a member of the Petroleum Administration, and Ahmad Al-Arafa, head of the Legal Consultation Center.
The Parties will then submit the maritime coordinates to the United Nations in the presence of the United States.
Hochstein will afterward travel to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Yair Lapid.
Yair Lapid considered, in a previous statement, that Lebanon did acknowledge the presence of Israel by signing the agreement.
