13 March 2012
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai said Monday that senior Qatari officials have an “unlimited” level of support for Lebanon, after a series of meetings in the Gulf state.
Rai, who is on a regional tour that has taken him to Jordan and is scheduled to end in Kuwait, held talks with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem and former energy minister Abdullah Attiyah.
After his meeting with the emir, Rai commented that “one feels how great his love for Lebanon is – it has no limits.
” Rai said Sheikh Hamad was a firm believer in “democracy, which he says is the only solution to people’s [problems] ... when we say democracy, it means respecting freedom of opinion and expression, and respecting others.”
Copyright The Daily Star 2012.
