German Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul held talks in Beirut Thursday that focused on the political and economic situation in Lebanon, according to dpa. Wieczorek-Zeul, accompanied by Ambassador to Lebanon Marius Haas, met with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora and other high-ranking officials. Wieczorek-Zeul toured the Palestinian camp of Chatilla accompanied by Richard Cook, the director of UN refugee affairs for the Palestinians in Lebanon. According to Palestinian sources, the German minister promised to assist in the rehabilitation of the infrastructure of some camps in Lebanon which are home to 367,000 Palestinian refugees. The German minister also signed an agreement for technical cooperation worth 10 million euros (13.8 million dollars). "We have signed a cooperation agreement. Germany has always supported Lebanon and its political and economic stability," Wieczorek-Zeul said after meeting Seniora. "We are now preparing for another cooperation agreement for the amount of 20 million euros specialized for dealing with water issues," the German official said. She added that Germany has helped in rehabilitating 32 schools which were damaged during the 33-day Israeli war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006. During the minister's meeting with Seniora in Berlin in September 2006, she had promised reconstruction assistance for 2006 and 2007. The resources are expected to be used for infrastructure development in the areas of drinking-water supply and waste-water management, as well as for a vocational training programme for young people. Asked about a possible German mediation for the release of two Israeli soldiers who were captured by Lebanon's radical Islamic Hezbollah movement in July, Wieczorek-Zeul said, "They should be released, but I cannot speak about any mediation now." Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12, 2006, in a cross-border attack. The incident sparked a wide-scale Israeli operation against Lebanon.
