French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a virtual conference with US President Donald Trump and other world leaders in attendance, to raise funds for the victims of the Beirut explosion. This was following a declaration by the UN which said that Beirut would need $117 million to combat the losses caused by the blast.
“The objective today is to act quickly and effectively to coordinate our aid on the ground so that it goes as efficiently as possible to the Lebanese people,” Macron told the conference also attended by Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun, UN aid coordinator Mark Lowcock, representatives of the World Bank, the Red Cross, the IMF, the EU, the Arab League and several Middle Eastern leaders. He called for speedy international backing for disaster-struck Lebanon and urged its leaders to prevent “chaos” as he opened an emergency aid conference following Beirut’s deadly port blast.
Macron has been the frontrunner in responding to the blast and extending help to Lebanon after the explosion. He was the first world leader to visit the country and evaluate the losses. The French President repeated his call for political and economic reforms, which he said: “would allow the international community to act effectively side by side with Lebanon for the reconstruction.”
Meanwhile, the Lebanese have taken to the streets in protest of their government’s lack of response to this disaster, as chaos prevails over the country.