The U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea will travel alongside the French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo to Saudi Arabia for meetings with Saudi Arabian officials on July 8, 2021, the U.S. Embassy said on Wednesday.
“This visit follows U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s trilateral meeting on Lebanon with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud on June 29 in Matera, Italy on the sidelines of the G-20 conference,” the Embassy added in a statement.
During her meetings in Saudi Arabia, Shea will discuss “the gravity of the situation in Lebanon” and emphasize “the importance of humanitarian assistance to the Lebanese people, as well as increased support for the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces,” the statement said.
In partnership with her French and Saudi counterparts, Ambassador Shea will also continue to “develop our trilateral diplomatic strategy focused on government formation and the imperative of undertaking urgent and essential reforms that Lebanon so desperately needs,” the statement added.
Dorothy Shea will also use the occasion of the visit to reiterate “the commitment of the United States to helping the people of Lebanon, highlighting over $3.7 billion in economic, humanitarian and security assistance contributed since 2016.”
The French ambassador will meanwhile “explain how urgent it is that Lebanese officials form a credible and effective government to work on implementing necessary reforms,” her embassy said.
The French envoy would, “with her American counterpart, express France and United States’ desire to exert pressure on those responsible for the deadlock”, it added.