Lebanon's new president, Joseph Aoun, will make his first trip abroad to Saudi Arabia after being named head of state of the Mediterranean country on Thursday, a post that had been vacant for more than two years due to disagreements between the different political forces.
The Lebanese presidency said in a statement that Aoun will make his first visit to the Arab kingdom after holding a phone call on Saturday with Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, who congratulated him on his appointment as head of state.
"The President of the Republic confirmed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be the first destination of his visits abroad, in response to the invitation of His Highness the Crown Prince," the Lebanese Presidency said, without specifying when the visit will take place.
Aoun, 60, said Saturday that Lebanon must “rely on outside help,” referring to cooperation with other countries to address the serious economic crisis that the nation has been mired in since 2019 and following the war of just over a year fought last year between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah.
According to a statement from the Presidency, he also hoped that a government would be formed in Lebanon “as quickly as possible so that things can go in the right direction and build bridges of trust with a willing outside world.”
Yesterday, Aoun received his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides, and the head of Italian diplomacy, Antonio Tajani, in Beirut, his first international visits since taking office.
The appointment of the new Lebanese head of state, until now the head of the army, puts an end to a two-year vacuum during which the country's various political blocs were unable to agree on a consensus candidate for the post.
Aoun will now have to appoint a new prime minister to form a government, replacing Najib Mikati, who has been in office on an interim basis since 2022. EFE and Aurora
Lebanon's new president to visit Saudi Arabia on first foreign trip
