Farès Boueiz
Farès Boueiz is a Lebanese jurist who served as a foreign minister for two terms as well as an environment minister.
Early life and education
On 15 January 1955, Boueiz was born into a Maronite family in Zouk Mikael. In 1977 he obtained a law degree from Saint Joseph University in Lebanon, and in 1978 he specialized in corporate and international law at Jean Moulin University in Lyon, France.Career
Boueiz is a lawyer by profession. In 1989 and 1990, he was appointed the personal representative of Elias Hrawi, President of Lebanon, to France, Syria and the Vatican.From 1990 to 1992, he served as foreign minister from when he left office for a few months following the general elections in 1992 and was temporarily replaced by Nasri Maalouf in the post. It was Boueiz who participated in a first official meeting with the PLO's Farouk Qaddumi, head of the group's political department, in mid-May 1991 after a long period.
Boueiz continued to serve as foreign minister from 1992 to 1998 in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Hariri and he had a tensed relationship due to Hariri's interventions to foreign policy. When Boueiz was in office, his father-in-law, Elias Hrawi, was the President of Lebanon. In 1998 Salim Hoss succeeded Boueiz as foreign minister.
In 2003, Boueiz was appointed environment minister to the cabinet led by Rafic Hariri, replacing Michel Musa in the post. Boueiz was an independent member of the cabinet. On 7 September 2004, he resigned from office protesting the constitutional amendment to extend the term of Émile Lahoud as president. Three more ministers also resigned on the same day, namely Marwan Hamadeh, Ghazi Aridi and Abdullah Farhat. These four ministers were also among the members of the parliament who voted against the extension of Lahoud's term.
The state minister Michel Musa replaced Boueiz as acting environment minister. Boueiz was among the potential candidates for the presidency after Émile Lahoud's first term in 2004.
Boueiz served as a member of the Lebanese Parliament, representing Kesrouan until 2005. He was again one of the contenders for the presidency of Lebanon after Lahoud in 2007.
In the Lebanese [General Elections 2009|general elections] in 2009, Boueiz was not on the list of the March 14 alliance.