Saudi Charge d'Affaire Walid Bukhari welcomed on Tuesday at the embassy’s headquarters a delegation from the Lebanese-Saudi Business Council, headed by Raouf Abu Zaki.
In a statement following the meeting, the delegation expressed its regret over the campaigns targeting Saudi Arabia and its leaders.
Noting that Lebanon was facing great economic and financial difficulties, the delegation emphasized the country’s “urgent need to strengthen its relations with those who have always stood by its side, mainly Saudi Arabia, which has been and will remain a backbone of our economy and a haven for Lebanese workers and investors.”
“There is a coordinated campaign targeting the Kingdom and the great efforts it is deploying to achieve economic and social reform and to combat extremism within its borders and abroad,” the council said in its statement.
"It is in everyone's interest to support Saudi openness and ongoing reforms and to value Saudi efforts to provide assistance to Lebanon and many developing countries,” it added.
The recent initiative by King Salman bin Abdulaziz to exempt developing and poor countries from $6 billion in debt is a model of Saudi traditional behavior in solidarity with countries, according to the statement.
