A series of meetings with PM Nawaf Salam: Negotiations with Cyprus on the suffering of patients and pharmacists

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam chaired the meeting of the committee in charge of negotiating with Cyprus.

They presented the bases to be negotiated to reach a maritime demarcation agreement for the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) with Cyprus.

Prime Minister Salam also received Bahaa Hariri, who said after the meeting: "We are going through a very delicate situation, and the presidency of the government is in a critical position which we are keen on, furthermore we support him on basic issues, the most important of which is state building, and we also support him on the issue of arms exclusivity until the end."

Prime Minister Salam received the Regional Director of the Middle East Department of the World Bank, Jean-Christophe Carret, accompanied by the Director of the World Bank's office in Lebanon, Enrique Blanco Armas.

Their meeting discussed the progress of World Bank-funded projects in Lebanon and the procedures for accelerating new loans allocated to Lebanon. They also discussed ways to secure resources from donors to support the government's reform agenda, reconstruction projects, and Lebanon's public investment program.

Prime Minister Salam then received Joe Salloum, head of the Pharmacists Syndicate, who said after the meeting: We discussed with His Excellency the suffering of patients and pharmacists since the beginning of the crisis, starting with the issue of smuggling fake and subsidized medicines out of Lebanon, and the introduction of low-quality medicines and their registration at the Ministry of Health through the so-called emergency import.

He added: ''We presented solutions that start with developing a sustainable pharmaceutical policy and expediting the establishment of the implementing decrees of the National Drug Agency, which was established to regulate the drug market, monitor medicine quality, assist the role of the pharmacist in monitoring and accountability, and enable pharmacists to combat all forms of smuggling and illegal sales, whether through unlicensed pharmacies or through social media sites that promote medicines of unknown origin, since patient's health is at stake."