November 1, 2002	Friday	Sha’aban 25,1423

PARIS, Oct 31: France has given its green light to the holding of an international conference on aid to Lebanon that is to be held in Paris on Nov 23.

The event should allow Lebanon to raise some five billion dollars in much needed financial assistance.

The event, which is being labelled Paris II, is being personally organised by French Head of State Jacques Chirac, a longtime friend of Lebanese President Rafic Hariri who was in Paris on Oct 29 to discuss the details of the conference at the Elysee Palace.

Both men have been underlining the extreme necessity of providing more international assistance to Lebanon, which two weeks ago was the site of the summit of Francophone countries, and which Chirac and Hariri would like to see play a greater role in the Middle East peace process.

French sources at the Elysee Palace said that Lebanon — which has a population of only four million — has presently a public debt of more than 30 billion dollars. Mr Chirac decided with Mr Hariri that the ideal would be able to use the conference to raise at least five billion dollars in new preferential assistance.