The head of the Economics Committee in the Lebanese Parliament, MP Farid Al-Bustani, described Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a “global leader” who will make the difference in politics, development and the economy. He talked about his role in shaping the future of the Middle East. Bustani stressed, in an exclusive interview with Okaz, that there is no solution to the crises afflicting Lebanon and its people except by launching the path of monetary and economic reform through the gateway of cooperation with international institutions, stressing Lebanon’s Arab identity by restoring the effectiveness of Lebanese relations with the Arab Gulf states, on top of which Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He stressed the need to adhere to the Taif Agreement in letter and spirit and to complete its implementation. Bustani stressed that “there is no salvation for Lebanon except in the reconciliation of the Arabs,” calling for correcting the course by electing a new president to end the presidential vacuum.
• How do you see the way to get Lebanon out of the tunnel it is facing now?
A: I see that the Lebanese crisis is a combination of political, economic and social complexities, and Lebanon is passing through a large tunnel that has two tracks, economic and political. defeated.” Lebanon should be the only winner, and Lebanon will not be a winner unless the Lebanese take their decision into their own hands through a financial and economic recovery plan before the end of the political crisis currently represented by the presidential vacuum.
Correcting the path begins with the election of a new president for Lebanon who is clean of hand and morals, who is agreed upon by the various local parties, who enjoys Arab and international support within an integrated basket that includes a governmental and administrative work team and political constants that preserve the identity and sovereignty of Lebanon. This is the tool of good governance, in cooperation with a prime minister who has no suspicion or taint of political or financial corruption in his past.
Understanding, calming down and solving problems
• What is required of the parliament in this regard?
•• The parliament, which elects the two presidents, must cooperate with them to endorse the reform provisions and put the serious economic and rescue plan into effect with the support of all political parties. It is the responsibility of the new era to complete all reform laws that correct a crooked and sustainable path that destroyed the national economy and growth opportunities and exhausted the system. The financial and banker, and the poorest of the Lebanese, squandered their money and deposits, reaped their lives, and stole their dreams of a better homeland. This plan must include, of course, Lebanon’s openness to the Arab surroundings, near or far, and the regional surroundings, i.e. Turkey, Iran, and the Arabian Gulf, foremost of which is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, Lebanon always pays the price for regional disputes. It cannot live without understanding with its surroundings, and if its In understanding with each other, things will go for the better, and according to the situation today, the regional environment is experiencing a period of understanding, calm and a solution to problems, and we hope that Lebanon will be part of these solutions.
Re-establish relations with Saudi Arabia
• On the political level, what is required to reform Lebanon’s Arab relations, especially the Gulf ones?
What is required first: electing a consensual president who is qualified to build bridges of trust with our Arab and Gulf environment. Therefore, I do not like the idea of electing a president “whatever he was,” just to fill the void. The consensual president must possess the qualities and qualifications that enable him to draw up a clear and scientific program of action to reconnect with the surroundings, while realizing with certainty that Lebanon cannot live outside its surroundings, which constitutes a vital lung for it and a necessary, safe and reliable outlet. Just as the president must enjoy Arab and international confidence, and have an honorable moral, political, and professional biography, his present is not ashamed of his past, and he is capable of making bold decisions.
And the region is now going towards cooling and zeroing out the problems, and it is an appropriate time to improve the relationship of all of Lebanon with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, because many of the Lebanese at the height of the unfortunate crisis with the Gulf did not have a problem with it just as some others did not have a problem with Iran, so what is required is that the Lebanese end their problems. With all neighboring countries, and at the same time maintain their independence and good relations with all countries concerned with Lebanese affairs, and preserve the privacy of each of these countries, and in turn ask each country to respect their privacy and not interfere in their private affairs, as stipulated in the Beijing agreement between the Kingdom And Iran, Lebanon has a special combination with a mixture of currents and sects, and what should unite them and bring them together is the love of the country in which they live.
Reshaping the world order
• Can Lebanon be part of the new Middle East that Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke about?
•• Lebanon is at the core of the new Middle East geographically, emotionally, and popularly. I will not reveal a secret if I say that there is a reshaping of the global system according to new geopolitical rules of interest, imposed by the rapid developments, starting with the global health crisis (Corona), and not ending with the Russian-Ukrainian war. , which changed many concepts, strategies and priorities, and the new Middle East that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described as an open and reconciled Middle East with itself and its neighbourhood, working on human development, developing countries and creating job opportunities so that the Middle East becomes a serious competitor in the international arena, economically and politically. developmentally.
Among Prince Muhammad bin Salman’s plan is to defuse the differences in the region, with Iran and others, and he began working on that, and today we are witnessing a positive development in the positive relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran somewhere. This is what the Crown Prince spoke about, about the new Middle East, and Lebanon with its spectra and orientations is at the core of this East, and even Syria was brought into it, and the return of the Saudi and Gulf relations to their former era is only evidence of that.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has built its future strategies and Vision 2030 on three main axes: “A vibrant society, a prosperous economy, and an ambitious homeland.” It aims to “reach a society in which every citizen lives a happy and fulfilling life with a standard of living that guarantees a healthy and safe environment for families, and provides education and health care at the highest level.” worldwide”. This goal is common to all peoples, and it is one of the axioms that should govern any regular work.
Based on all this, it becomes imperative for us, as Arab countries, to activate our cooperation, starting with zeroing our problems as much as possible, in order to be able to establish a promising future of real, active and live joint action based on interaction in a context of moving dynamics that take into account first the well-being of our peoples and their political, economic and social stability. . And this is what I believe constitutes the essence of the new Middle East, the “new Europe” advocated by Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The Monetary Fund and the “Hezbollah” Weapon
• On the monetary level, how do you view the path of reform, and what is required first?
A: The crisis is not only monetary, but also economic, and we have to differentiate between the monetary problem and the economic problem. Cash is the deterioration of the value of the lira against the dollar, and the recovery of depositors’ money in banks that were used to finance the state and support, as well as to finance corruption.
As for the main problem today, it is the problem of the structural economy, and we must work within the plan to establish a productive economy, but we cannot neglect the services and the rentier economy that must be developed. Lebanon must also be brought back to the time of attracting capital to invest in tourism and technological services by establishing a technology economy, because we annually graduate thousands of people working in the technology sector in the Arab world, and if these people are guaranteed work in Lebanon with a decent income, they will stay in it through the development and acceleration of the Internet and the creation of Laws that stimulate investment in the technology sector and “START UPS” (start-up companies). But today, solutions start from the IMF (International Monetary Fund), how to spend money in a productive way, and to secure electricity so that the Lebanese can be productive, and by proposing structural and financial reforms and reducing state spending, which is embodied in not reducing salaries, but rather by dispensing with Employees who receive their pensions and do not work, and the incompetent. And if we do not face the problem directly, we will not reach a solution. The solution is to launch a partnership with the private sector in all sectors, such as the cellular sector and others, and to spend money on productive projects and not on fictitious projects that do not benefit the state, within a unified plan between the President of the Republic and the government and with facilitation. and cooperation from the House of Representatives.
• How should the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons be dealt with?
•• There is no doubt that the party’s weapons are among the major problems posed to the Lebanese, with everyone realizing – internally and externally – that it is not only a local issue, and the decision in it is not limited to the Lebanese. However, this does not detract from our responsibility for the necessity of setting a framework for this weapon in the context of an organized national defense strategy that has specific goals and objectives and does not have an external extension, so that the weapon is at the command of the homeland to defend it exclusively in the face of any Israeli aggression.
We are counting on the dialogue dynamic in the region, the cornerstone of which is the Saudi-Iranian agreement, as an opportunity to settle all the Lebanese leftovers stemming from external conflicts, so that we can gather our diaspora and start the process of recovery within the framework of a strong state reconciled with itself and with the outside.
Taif application first
• Do you think that the Taif Agreement is still valid?
A: It is not possible to answer this question as long as this agreement has not been fully implemented. The result is that everyone blames everyone for not implementing it, but the result is the same, which is that this agreement has not been implemented. Many of its provisions have not been implemented, so I cannot judge it as long as it is not implemented. From here, I proceed to the issue of the validity of the Taif Agreement. I can say that “Taif” so far is the agreement that ended 15 years of internal war in Lebanon, and I do not call it a civil war in the usual sense, but rather an internal war because it involved the inside, the outside and the region, as some call it the war of others.
Instead of thinking about how to implement the agreement and develop it in order to embody its goal, it seemed to some not to apply it, while some others stopped implementing it, and some others implemented a part of it, and some others interpreted it in their own way.
However, the text of “Taif” is clear, and it notes many things that have not been implemented, such as administrative decentralization and its consequences, the abolition of sectarianism and the transition to a civil state. We cannot keep sectarianism in the texts, and abolish it only in politics, but it must be abolished at all levels.
We are facing a great challenge. The Lebanese must review their positions and agree on the method of managing Lebanon through “Taif” and through its development and implementation. If they fail, they will have sentenced themselves to death. Rather, those responsible will not only have condemned themselves to suicide, but to the mass execution of an entire people.
