President Joseph Aoun told a delegation from the Maronite General Council that fighting corruption and building state institutions require collective commitment, as Lebanon seeks to recover from economic crisis and conflict.
President Joseph Aoun received the Maronite General Council at Baabda Palace on Wednesday, welcoming its delegation led by engineer Michel Matta. The council marked its 150th anniversary this year, a date Matta said coincided with Lebanon's own founding as a modern state under Patriarch Elias Hawik.
Matta told Aoun the council was visiting to stand alongside the president's reform efforts and to support efforts to rescue Lebanon's institutions. He said the council, since its founding, had remained a national institution devoted to preserving Lebanon's pluralism and the model of coexistence, placing national interest above all other considerations.
Matta said Lebanon must be a state, not a place of sectarian division or temporary settlements, where citizens feel they are full partners with their rights protected and their futures shaped within state institutions rather than through factional arrangements. He pledged the council's support for any genuine reform and rescue efforts that restore sovereignty to the state, dignity to citizens and hope to young people.
Aoun responded by saying building nations is a shared responsibility that does not rest with one person or faction, each within its own role. He stressed that national interest must remain the priority above personal interests for the country to recover. He cited Lebanese resilience through recent crises since 2019 as proof that unity and faith in the country were the foundation for overcoming hardship and keeping Lebanon standing.
The president said the government had begun tackling corruption, which had spread over years, and was fighting those who rejected the logic of the state. He said responsibility is shared among all Lebanese. The government had taken steps within economic and financial reforms, he said, and while these were not sufficient, they had achieved growth that the government had hoped to increase this year until the war interrupted that prospect.
Despite everything, Aoun said, Lebanon's institutions remain standing and the country endures. He expressed hope to see Lebanon return to its natural position as it was known in the 1970s, a goal he said was achievable if Lebanese truly believed in their country and preserved it as a message of pluralism to both East and West, as Pope John Paul II had described it.
Aoun said the world views Lebanon with respect and sister states long for the Lebanon they once knew. He said reaching that goal required rallying around a state that protects everyone and works in everyone's interest, moving away from sectarianism, denominationalism and partisanship.
On negotiations, Aoun said the state had made a decision it had no choice but to make after war had brought devastation and tragedy. While negotiations were not easy or swift and faced obstacles and difficulties, they remained far better than war. He said all sides were pursuing the same objectives: liberating the south, deploying the army to the border, recovering captives, enabling displaced people to return and rebuilding the country. These goals could not be achieved through war as had become clear, leaving no option but negotiation.
Aoun closed by urging Lebanon to keep its hopes high and to seize available opportunities. He said Lebanon and the Lebanese should not depend on others or on aid, but on investment, a message he said he delivered to every country, calling on the world to give Lebanon and the Lebanese genuine chances.
In a separate meeting, Aoun received Qatar's ambassador to Lebanon, Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman bin Faisal Al Thani, and Sheikh Faisal Ahmed Ali Al Thani, head of the Asian Olympic Council office and director of international relations there, along with Youth and Sports Minister Nora Bueracdaryan. The meeting discussed the affairs of Lebanon's Olympic Committee with a view to protecting Lebanese sports interests while respecting Olympic laws, regulations and charter. Aoun noted the achievements of Lebanese athletes inside and outside Lebanon and stressed the importance of Lebanese sporting presence internationally and within international bodies including the Olympic Committee.
