Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has traveled to Brussels to participate this week in a meeting of officials from the European Union and the Arab League, a statement from his office said Sunday.
The meeting, set for Monday, will bring together foreign ministers from Arab and European states in preparation for the inaugural EU-Arab League summit.
The event, which was confirmed in October, will be held Feb. 24-25 in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh. It will be the first between the member states of the EU and the Arab League, and is part of an effort to combat people smuggling.
At the time of the summit’s announcement, EU officials said Egypt had set a high bar in fighting traffickers and smugglers that other North African countries could follow. The EU, meanwhile, has focused more and more on fortifying its external borders amid long-standing divisions over the resettlement of asylum-seekers who make it to the shores of Italy and other European countries.
On his way back to Beirut, Bassil will stop in Paris for a number of meetings, the statement said, including with members of the Lebanese diaspora in France. He will also give a guest lecture at Sciences Po.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
