The Council of Ministers held an additional session today to continue discussing the draft general budget law, chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Nawaf Salam, and in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Tarek Mitri and Ministers: Finance Yassine Jaber, National Defence Michel Menssa, Tourism Laura El Khazen, Social Affairs Haneen Sayed, Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Youssef Ragi, Economy and Trade Amer Al-Bissat, Displaced and Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence Kamal Shehadeh, Interior and Municipalities Brigadier General Ahmad al-Hajjar, Justice Adel Nassar, Youth and Sports Noura Bayrakdarian, Education and Higher Education Rima Karami, Industry Joe Issa El Khourry, Administrative Development Fadi Makki, Labour Mohammad Haidar, Public Works and Transport Fayez Rasamny, Agriculture Nizar Hani, Information Lawyer Dr. Paul Morcos, Environment Tamara El Zein, and Public Health Rakan Nasser Eddine. Also attending were the Director-General of the Presidency of the Republic Dr. Antoine Choucair and the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers Judge Mahmoud Makkieh. After the session ended at around seven o'clock, the Minister of Information announced the following official decisions: "Continuing its previous sessions, the Council of Ministers held an additional session today to complete the discussion of the draft general budget law, chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Nawaf Salam, in the presence of the ministers, and in the absence of the Minister of Culture. Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Tarek Mitri opened the session by briefing the Council on the latest developments in the talks underway with envoys of the retired armed forces and the public sector, and informing it of the proposals still under discussion with them, in light of the shared vision being reached in reading the budget figures and searching for appropriate solutions. On the other hand, contrary to what is being circulated, Minister of Telecommunications Engineer Charles Hajj clarified that no decision has been issued to change the status quo regarding the top-up operations for cellular lines. Following that, the Council proceeded to study the budget clauses that it had begun discussing in previous sessions, moving on to what is termed the adaptation of fees and taxes and aligning them with the exchange rate—meaning that no new fees or taxes are being created, but rather these fees are being adapted to match the exchange rate. The Council then moved on to discuss the ministries' figures, namely the amounts of appropriations allocated for each ministry, with discussions to be continued in the coming days, in preparation for finalizing and approving the draft general budget law."