Outgoing PM Najib Mikati contacted Sunday Maronite Patriarch Mar Beshara Boutros al-Raii.

Having congratulated him on St. Maroun's Birthday, Mikati highly commended the patriarch over positive reactions garnered so far by the Bkirki memorandum. The memorandum stresses need for a crystallized patriotic ingathering posture, he concluded.

Having agreed with the patriarch to keep channels between them opened, Mikati also called on Beirut Maronite Metropolitan Bishop Boulos Matar to greet him on St. Maroun's Birthday.