On the 23rd of June 2008, Lebanon held the donor countries meeting in the Austrian capital, Vienna, upon the invitation of the Lebanese and Austrian governments, EU and the Arab League. The conference was dedicated to the reconstruction of the Palestinian refugees’ Nahr el Bared camp and adjacent areas. Representatives of 70 country and international institution have participated in the conference where 122 million USD were donated as a contribution from the EU, USA, Canada and Switzerland. Early July, four (4) Gulf Arab countries pledged, in principle, to provide nearly 50% from the overall NBC reconstruction expenses. For his part, Palestinian Prime minister Salam Fayyad, announced the launching of a donation campaign within the Palestinian society to gather 10 million USD.      

 

 

During the conflict period in 2007, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, sought to prepare the appropriate environment to organize conferences aimed at promoting the participation of both Arab and international communities in the reconstruction process, since Lebanon cannot assume alone this heavy bequest, especially at a time when it was still suffering from the sequels of the July 2006 Israeli distressing aggression. The inauguration of the “NBC Underwriting Conference”, was held at the Grand Serail in July 2007, with an active participation of representatives from more than 40 Arab and international donor countries and institutions.