A ministerial committee working on a blueprint for the cabinet's policy statement is to hold its third meeting Saturday amidst reported progress towards nearing agreement on the document's major points.
The committee, in its second meeting on Friday, tackled what the daily An-Nahar termed "highly sensitive" topics, including serial violence in Beirut, Mount Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, Akkar and most recently in Tripoli.

"All proposals were discussed, but no agreement has been reached on the final version" for a policy statement blueprint, An-Nahar reported.

Such controversial topics tackled during Friday's meeting under Premier Fouad Saniora included "weapons, the resistance, security and other major topics such as the relations between Lebanon and Syria," the report added.

The nine-member committee, An-Nahar said, "had lengthy discussions, but many topics require further revision and no agreement on them has been reached. The Beirut events were tackled in details while considering the security topic."

Ministerial sources said the committee is to hold a fourth meeting on Sunday and, with luck and determination, may accomplish its mission by Monday.

In such a case, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri would summon the house to tackle the policy statement as of Thursday.

The discussion by lawmakers of the executive authority's policy statement, which is to be screened live by local networks, would last for three days.

Saniora said the committee would proceed with its mission throughout the weekend and termed recent remarks by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah "very important."  
 
 Beirut, 19 Jul 08, 07:35