Caretaker Telecoms Minister Jebran Bassil said a meeting on Wednesday between President Michel Suleiman and an Opposition delegation was “positive” and there was “mutual understanding” between the two sides.
“At the end, the problem is not with the President, but with Saad Hariri,” Bassil said in an interview published Thursday with pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.
“We hope that the concessions we offered would be met by similar concessions,” Bassil said.

He said he also hoped that Hariri does not intend to “further derail or delay Cabinet formation and then quits for reasons beyond our understanding.”

Asked what the next move would be following his meeting with Suleiman, Bassil said that there “are things that could happen to reach a settlement that is if we received positive signs in return.”

He said if Hariri, however, continued to hold on to the proposed Cabinet lineup “then we would not reach any solution.”

President Michel Suleiman on Sunday met Druze leader Walid Jumblat at his summer residence in Beit Eddine in the Shouf Mountains.
Jumblat, on top of a delegation of MPs from his Democratic Gathering bloc as well as members of the Progressive Socialist Party and spiritual authorities, welcomed Suleiman at the presidential summer residence in Beit Eddine.
“Welcome home,” Jumblat told Suleiaman. “We hope that your visit will be a long one.”

Jumblat also hailed Suleiman’s “patriotic and reconciliatory positions” and called for speedy formation of a new government “in order to stimulate development.”

State-run National News Agency quoted Suleiman as telling Jumblat during the meeting that “any work toward unity is a profit to the nation and the institutions.”