Mikati said, “I thank Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who did not hesitate, as a result of my contact with him yesterday, to order the continuation of supplying Lebanon with Iraqi fuel,” considering that “this is another stance towards Lebanon.”
Mikati revealed that he agreed with Al-Sudani to meet soon in Baghdad following the end of the Ashura ceremonies, to follow up on this file and work towards more cooperation.
Mikati said: “Thanks to Iraq and all the brotherly and friendly countries that support Lebanon in this difficult stage.”
This comes following the Lebanese caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad warned that if the problem of financing Iraqi fuel shipments is not addressed quickly, Lebanon will enter “total darkness.”
Three years ago, the Iraqi and Lebanese governments concluded an agreement to supply Lebanon with fuel to generate electricity, increasing the hours of power supply, which decreased significantly following the largest financial and economic crisis that erupted in the country in October 2019.
However, the Central Bank of Lebanon has been unable to pay the price of Iraqi fuel shipments over the past months due to the lack of a law issued by Parliament authorizing it to do so, which prompted the private company for marketing Iraqi oil to stop unloading fuel ships before it received its money.
Lebanese media sources said that “the talk regarding the Central Bank of Lebanon refusing to pay for the Iraqi fuel shipments is inaccurate, as the Ministry of Energy has a bank account that it can freely use to pay for the fuel shipments, but, as has been the custom in past years, it wants to spend more than it has available, which is rejected by the acting governor of the bank, demanding that any action in this regard be through a law issued by the House of Representatives.”
Source: RT
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2024-07-12 15:24:17