Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will begin a two-day visit to Lebanon today and will meet with the country's top leaders, the Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Davutoğlu will have talks with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, as well as Saad Hariri, the leader of Lebanon's Future Movement. Hariri, the younger son of assassinated former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafik Hariri, is expected to form Lebanon's next government.
Following the June elections, the rival political groups are now reported to be close to forming a government. Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri, who heads the March 14 alliance, and the rival bloc led by Shiite militant group Hezbollah had agreed on the sharing of the number of Cabinet seats they would get, but the two sides are continuing to discuss which ministries each would receive.
Since the elections, Hariri's camp has been engaged in tough negotiations with Hezbollah over its demands to retain the veto powers they enjoyed in the outgoing unity government formed last year. The Western-backed March 14 alliance is strongly opposed to those powers.