Updated on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 00:00 IST

Kuwait, April 23: A ministerial meeting of the so-called "Friends of Lebanon" was held here on the sidelines of the third expanded ministerial conference of the neighbouring countries of Iraq to discuss means to resolve the political deadlock in Lebanon.

The informal meeting on yesterday was presided by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who said in his welcoming address that the "Friends of Lebanon" supported the Arab initiative on Lebanon and the efforts of Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa in this regard.

Among those attending were Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, British foreign secretary David Miliband.

This is the third time that the meeting of the group was convened.

The Foreign Ministers of the participating countries met in Istanbul, Turkey, in November 2007 on the sidelines of the second expanded Iraq Neighbours' Conference and again in December in Paris on the sidelines of the Palestinian Donors' Conference.

The group includes the United States, UN, Britain, France, Italy, Egypt, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Russia and Kuwait.

The Lebanese presidency has been vacant since November 2007 when the term of the previous leader, Emile Lahoud, expired. The election of the president was postponed again yesterday morning pending an aspired conciliation among the different political parties.

Bureau Report