Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has arrived in Egypt where he is expected to discuss several critical issues for Lebanon with local authorities. Thus, Najib Mikati has already met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sissi and his counterpart Moustafa Madbouli to then go to the Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

On the menu of talks, the issue of the supply of Egyptian gas but also the diplomatic crisis between Lebanon and the Gulf countries. Thus, Cairo should play a role of mediator with Riyadh. This visit had indeed been mentioned since the resignation of the Minister of Information Georges Cordahi, who had qualified the Saudi military operations in Yemen as aggression shortly before his appointment.

In addition, the issue of supplying Egyptian gas is also on the table. Negotiations are currently underway with the World Bank in order to finance its purchase, while the Arab gas pipeline through which the gas will pass through Jordan and then Syria is currently operational. The World Bank would henceforth condition its financing on that the tariffs of Electricity of Lebanon are updated to reach at least the cost of production, consequently implying a sharp increase in the prices of the kilowatt which have remained unchanged since 1997. Already before the economic crisis which officially started 2 years ago, it reached the equivalent of 2 cents per kilowatt against a production cost of 17 cents.

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