Baabda Palace began preparations to hold a national dialogue conference that President Michel Suleiman is to sponsor after the drafting of a ministerial statement, Beirut media reported Thursday.
An Nahar daily said the president”s political advisor Nazem Khoury made visits on Wednesday to Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier Fouad Saniora in this regard.
Khoury began preparing the program of the dialogue and its mechanism and will continue preparations to guarantee that the talks are launched as soon as parliament gives its vote of confidence to the cabinet, An Nahar said.
"The defense strategy…will be on the dialogue table," Al Mustaqbal daily quoted Khoury as saying.
"The dialogue will not be left (to deal with) will all problems. The (government”s) policy statement will deal with some issues and problems that are raised," he stressed.