Consultative Meeting Between Mikati and Ministers, Some Absent Due to Travel

The consultative meeting between caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the ministers began at the Grand Serail. Attending are Foreign and Expatriates Minister Abdullah Bou Habib, Displaced Persons Minister Issam Charafeddine, Youth and Sports Minister Georges Kallas, Finance Minister Youssef Khalil, Education Minister Abbas Halabi, Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamiyeh, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin, Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar, Telecommunications Minister Johnny Al-Qarm, Agriculture Minister Abbas Al-Hajj Hassan, Culture Minister Muhammad Wissam Al-Mortada, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, Tourism Minister Walid Nassar, Information Minister Ziad Al-Makari, and Justice Minister Henry Khoury, along with General Director of the Presidency of the Republic Antoine Chuqair and Secretary-General of the Cabinet Judge Mahmoud Makki. Several ministers were absent from the consultative meeting due to travel. Mikati had called for an emergency government session today before replacing it with a consultative session, which was described as "a sense of national responsibility and the necessity to consult with most of the ministers and listen to them, especially in this delicate circumstance the country is going through," according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's office last night.