President Michel Aoun received a call from the American mediator in the maritime border file, Amos Hochstein, during which he briefed him on the recent results of the contacts on the demarcation of the maritime borders.
Hochstein stressed that the discussion rounds have been concluded and the observations have been identified and he will send the final version of the proposal over the next few hours.
The Presidency’s Information Office indicated in a statement that “the Lebanese side will study the final version of Hochstein’s proposal carefully, in preparation for taking the appropriate decision,” stressing that President Aoun was briefed by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Elias Bou Saab, about the details of the discussions with the American mediator.
Bou Saab said earlier that he would only respond to official statements and not to media reports on Israel‘s stance regarding the latest amendments on the maritime border file requested by Lebanon.
“Hockstein thanked President Aoun and his team for the wise management of the negotiation file and the way in which the points under discussion were dealt with, which facilitated the completion of the negotiations through exhausting work in the past days,” the statement concluded.
In this context, American Ambassador Dorothy Shea stressed the need to speed up the finalization of the Lebanese response, adding that her government is keen on wrapping up the file as soon as possible.
