Farès Boueiz

Farès Boueiz (born 15 January 1955) is a Lebanese politician, who served as foreign minister for two terms and also, as environment minister.

Boueiz was born into a Maronite family in Zouk Mikael on 15 January 1955.

Boueiz is a lawyer by profession. He served as foreign minister from 1990 to 1992 when he left office for a few months following the general elections of 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 the 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.

Boueiz was among the potential candidates for the presidency after Emile Lahoud's first term in 2004. 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 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 in the parliament.

Then state minister Michel Musa replaced Boueiz as acting environment minister. 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 general elections of 2009, he was not on the list of the March 14 alliance.

Views

During his second term as foreign minister, Boueiz overtly cooperated with the Syrian authorities. However, in 2001, he objected the accusations of Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass regarding Patriarch Sfeir. On the other hand, Boueiz was skeptical about the peace accord signed by Israel and the PLO in 1993, and argued that Palestinian refugees should not settle in Lebanon due to sensitive demographic balance between native Christians and Muslims in the country. During talks with Egyptian diplomats in Rome in early April 1998, Boueiz stated that the Nazi's approach against Jewish people was based on political reasons and that "they have behaved arrogantly like the chosen people of God."

Boueiz is the son-in-law of Elias Hrawi. He married Zalfa Hrawi in 1985.