Lebanese President Michel Aoun held talks with visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State David Hale on the 15th, said he hopes to resume negotiations on the Maritime Border between Lebanon and Israel.
According to a statement issued by the Lebanese presidential palace, Aoun stressed the importance of resuming maritime border negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, expressed the hope that international experts would be involved in helping to clear the maritime border between the two countries, and called on the United States to act as an impartial mediator in the negotiations.
Hale told the media after the talks that the United States stands ready to facilitate negotiations on the Lebanese-Israeli maritime border, which will help Lebanon, which is in economic crisis.
In October 2020, three rounds of non-direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, brokered by the United States, on the delimitation of the maritime boundary at the United Nations Interim Force Command in the town of Naqoura, southern Lebanon, were postponed indefinitely.
Israel and Lebanon do not have diplomatic relations. Both countries insist that a Mediterranean sea area of about 860 square kilometers belongs to their own exclusive economic zone. In recent years, exploration has found that the disputed sea area is rich in natural gas resources.
