Lebanese president vows to work on border demarcation talks with Israel

Beirut [Lebanon], June 9 (ANI/Xinhua): Lebanese President Michel Aoun vowed on Thursday to continue working on the maritime border demarcation issue in the hopes of achieving favourable outcomes during his scheduled talks with the US mediator, Lebanon’s Presidency said in a statement.
Aoun’s remarks came following Israel sending an Energean Power ship to enter the Karish gas field on Sunday, which Israel claims is within its economic zone while Lebanon claims it is in disputed waters. The dispute prompted Lebanese authorities to request US mediator Amos Hochsteinto to visit the Lebanese capital Beirut early next week.
“We will ask Hochstein to resume his efforts to restart indirect negotiations, especially since Lebanon wants, through these negotiations, to be able to invest its oil and gas wealth in Lebanese waters, and to maintain stability and security in the border region (with Israel),” Aoun told senior diplomats from Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden in Lebanon.
Israel said on Wednesday that it was “prepared to defend” the disputed natural gas rig near the Israeli-Lebanese border in the Mediterranean Sea, and asked Lebanon to expedite talks on the disputed zone.
In a joint statement released by Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Energy Minister Karin Elharar, Israel called on Lebanon “to accelerate negotiations on the maritime border.” (ANI/Xinhua)