President Joseph Aoun stated Saturday from the Rachid Karami International Fair in Tripoli that "Tripoli has the capacity to be a model of convergence, cooperation, and looking toward the future."
"What I hope for is that we make this visit a milestone to strengthen trust between the state and the city’s residents," said Aoun in the impoverished northern city.
He lamented that the ancient city "has been wronged for decades by state neglect and the tampering of masked gangs hiding behind politics, until it was violated and turned into a dark mailbox for exchanging poisoned messages."
"I am in Tripoli today to place a message in Tripoli's mailbox stating that this city is history, knowledge, and the heart of the North, all of the North," Aoun added
"I am the President of the Republic, and my responsibility is to remain equidistant from all Lebanese and to work for a Lebanon that accommodates everyone," he said.
"Lebanon cannot rise with a single faction alone, nor with a single sect alone; rather, it rises when its sons and daughters converge around the project of the state. Let us work together for a strong, just state and a productive society," the president urged.