Caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil will meet with his Austrian counterpart Karin Kneissl Monday, days after Kneissl stunned the United Nations General Assembly by opening her speech in Arabic.
A statement from Bassil’s office released Saturday evening said that the two will meet at 12:30 p.m. Monday, followed by a joint news conference at 1 p.m.
During her speech at the U.N. Saturday evening, Kneissl began by speaking in Arabic, saying that it was “a beautiful and important language.”
“I also studied in Lebanon during the years of [the Civil] War; I learned how people continue with their lives despite all odds and difficulties – this is the secret to life,” she said.
Kneissl later switched to French, Spanish and English, and quoted a Latin phrase and a Hebrew one.
According to the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s website, Kneissl has worked as an independent lecturer in the areas of international law, Middle Eastern history and the energy market at various universities, including the Lebanese institutions Saint-Joseph University in Beirut and the International Center for Human Sciences in Byblos.
