Lebanon's prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri on Thursday (December 13th) said he is "pretty sure" that a six-month-old deadlock on forming a government will be broken by the end of the year, AFP reported.
"I am pretty sure by the end of the year we will have a government," he said from London's Chatham House think-tank, seven months after parliamentary elections were held in Lebanon.
"We are getting there. It is not a regional issue, it is an internal issue... There is still one obstacle and I am sure we will be able to resolve it," he said.
A deal between Lebanon's political leaders has seemed close on several occasions, but they have repeatedly failed to reach full agreement on a line-up.
Al-Hariri attempted to strike a reassuring tone, despite warnings from some of Lebanon's closest allies that donor patience was running thin.
"We can do business in Lebanon even with a caretaker government," he said.
Lebanon's economy has often looked on the brink of collapse, but an April donor conference in Paris earned it $11 billion in aid pledges.
France last week warned that Lebanon risked heavy losses if the unprecedented solidarity expressed by donors was to fizzle out.
"The lack of a government in Lebanon means running the risk that this dynamic in the international community is lost," said France's ambassador to Lebanon, Bruno Foucher."That moment could pass," he said.
