Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister, held a meeting here yesterday with his French counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy. Addressing a press conference following the meeting Douste-Blazy highlighted he existing friendly relations between the Kingdom and France. He saluted the Kingdom's policy in the fields of economic and social reforms. The French foreign minister said his talks with Prince Saud had covered the developments of the situation in the Middle East, and added that 'our analysis were similar'. He expressed anxiety over continuation of violence between Israel and lebanon, and said France supports the ongoing efforts within the framework of the UN to determine conditions of ceasefire. He reiterated the keenness of his country on implementing the resolution 1559 as well as on ensuring the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon. 'We do condemn shelling the locations of the Lebanese army, and France believes in the importance of deployment of the Lebanese army in all Lebanese territories', he said. The minister confirmed that France supports the Lebanese Premier, and believes in the importance of the preservation of the infrastructure installations and institutions. He urged Israel to avoid targeting the civilians and the infrastructure installations in Lebanon as well as the UN's troops in South Lebanon. --more 21/07/2006 13:18 ت م
