The Francophone Summit in Bucharest Ended with a Hick-up On Lebanon

The 11th Francophone Summit ended in Bucharest Friday with the issue of Lebanon holding the delegations pondering over the words of the final declaration.

The plenary session and the final press conference were delayed as well.

French President Jacques Chirac said he was pleased with the organization of the summit, which he labeled as "perfect."

Chirac pointed out the Francophone International Organization was actively involved in settling crises and disputed.

For his part, Romanian President Traian Basescu said the summit was a success too as leaders exchanged views and showed their solidarity.

When asked by journalists about the organizational hick-ups in the first day Basescu first apologized then said that "the job of the media is to be unhappy anyway, whatever the reality."

The conflict in Lebanon was on the agenda in an unexpected way, after Romania refused to invite the country’s president to the summit.

The leaders at the Francophone Summit struggled over the wording in the final declaration to enshrine their position on the conflict tin Lebanon.

"The final statement regarding the situation in Lebanon was perfected after negotiations which lasted a while," said the Romanian minister of foreign affairs Mihai Razvan Ungureanu.

Civil victims, both Israeli and Lebanese are mentioned, but the word "war" was avoided and replaced with "the conflict in the area," said PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu.

Translated by Anca Paduraru