Lebanese President Joseph Aoun visits Riyadh in his first trip abroad since taking office in January.
Saudi Arabia will review “obstacles” to resuming Lebanese imports and ending a ban on its nationals visiting Lebanon, the two governments said.
The announcement was made in a joint statement released after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in Riyadh on Tuesday – Aoun’s first trip abroad since taking office in January.
Saudi Arabia has renewed its interest in Lebanese politics after a long period when it kept its distance in the wake of the influence of Iran-backed Hezbollah – now weakened after last year’s war with Israel.
“The two sides agreed to start studying the obstacles facing the resumption of exports from the Lebanese Republic to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the measures necessary to allow Saudi citizens to travel to” Lebanon, the statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency said.
In April 2021, the kingdom suspended fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon, charging that shipments were being used for drug smuggling and accusing Beirut of inaction.
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Saudi Arabia was the top destination for Lebanese agricultural exports in 2019, taking 22.1 percent, a Lebanese government report said in 2020.
Since 2021, Saudis have also had to obtain their government’s permission before travelling to Lebanon because of strained relations.
The two nations also agreed on “the necessity of the Israeli occupation army’s withdrawal” from Lebanese territory under a November ceasefire.
Last week, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said troops would remain indefinitely in what he called a “buffer zone” after the expiry of an extended, February 18 deadline for Israel to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon.
Aoun arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday night, marking the first time in eight years that a Lebanese head of state had visited Riyadh.
On Friday, Aoun told the Saudi Arabian newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that he would also “seek, if possible, to reactivate military aid” after Riyadh halted $3bn in military aid to the Lebanese army in 2016, citing the influence of Hezbollah.