The Vice President of the Lebanese Government Mr. Issam Fares met with a delegation from the International Affairs Council in the United States led by its president Dr Jerry Leach and presidents and members of the assembly in Texas, South Carolina, Utah, Florida, New-York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

The delegation visit had as a purpose to observe the region’s situation and to see how they could corporate especially in the light of the latest developments on the international scale and in the Middle East region.

Mr. Fares exposed the present political situation and the details of the economical and financial situation of the country in the light of the developments that the financial and banks sector was able to realize thanks to the sustained financial policy. He answered to the delegation questions official Bulgarian delegation that is visiting Lebanon presided by insisting on the Lebanese will to keep what they were able to accomplish even though the situation the region is facing is delicate. He also talked about how we could reinforce the Investments and about the role that the assembly could play in showing the real situation of Lebanon in the United States and on how Lebanon is eager to preserve the same values such as democracy, liberal economy and the individual involvement.

After the visit Mr. Leach talked about the purpose of their visit : we are a delegation from the international affairs board and its one of the biggest institutions that isn’t willing on winning in the United States and that attracts people from the east and west of the country. There is more than 500.000 members and the assembly always offers inquiry visits to discuss about matters of big importance. Lebanon was one of the places that captured our interest a long time ago. This is our second visit to that country sponsored by the Fares Foundation Our meeting was profitable with Mr. Fares, we discussed the problem of the general debt and on how to deal with it and of the way of investing in the future in that country. We also talked about the Lebanese role abroad and on how they can reinforce the development of their country. We also looked into the situation of the region in the light of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict and the presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon and the 1559 resolution we also discussed of Iraq and the changes in the United States administration. We’re not part of the United States government and we’re not financed by them. We are independent and we form our opinions and points of views independently. We met a numerous number of leaders and we’re meeting president Lahoud and prime minister Omar Karamé. We now can understand the reason of the love that lots of people carry to that country and who want to come back.

He was asked on how they could help Lebanon; he answered: the United States government is “accused” of ignoring some details concerning the international level so we are going to deal with what we heard and we now have a better understanding and a better vision of the situation. We’re then going to write a report as soon as we arrive and distribute it to 87 branches around the country. We also are going to forward one to the White House and foreign office as well as to the congress members and the multimedia we deal with .We are also going to expose the Lebanese situation in our national annual conference that will be held in about three months. The main issue of the conference will be the Israeli Palestinian problem and the Palestinian refugees, the blue line and the emergency forces and Hezbollah. We are also trying to teach the American youth of the secondary level the reality of this region through out the informations we gathered. As well as TV and radio programs. We hope that this discussion with the collaboration of the Fares Foundation will be able to promote programs of cooperation and future strong relations.

Deputy Prime minister Issam Fares was invited by our council in Los-Angeles in 2001 to give a conference on Lebanon. This assembly welcomed well-known personalities such as the former United States president George Bush, Prince Andrew, Denis Ross and the former prime minister of Yugoslavia Milan Panich and the prime minister of Jordan Ali Abu Ragheb, William Shultz, Henry Kissinger.