French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Lebanon on Thursday before Paris plans to host aid conferences for the country.
He met President Joseph Aoun and French ambassador Herve Magro, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported, and is also scheduled to meet other Lebanese officials.
France is planning two international conferences for Lebanon, one to support the army and another for reconstruction and economic recovery, once the “appropriate conditions are met”.
Donors have tied aid to the implementation of economic and institutional reforms and curbing Hezbollah’s weapons.
Mr Aoun told Mr Le Drian during their meeting that Lebanon was committed to implementing “economic and financial reforms”, according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency.
He also called on France and the US to put pressure on Israel to “cease hostilities against Lebanon”, stressing it “would help in implementing the security plan drawn up by the Lebanese army and approved by the cabinet last week”.
Mr Le Drian's visit comes a week after the army presented Lebanon's Cabinet with a plan to rid Hezbollah of its weapons, despite the group's refusal to disarm.
The army plan consists of five stages, starting with a three-month phase to completely disarm the group in the area south of the Litani River, which runs about 30km north from the border with Israel.
The US on Wednesday approved a $14.2 million package to help Lebanon's army to disarm non-state groups including Hezbollah. France has maintained close ties and political influence in Lebanon, its former protectorate.
Nearly $1 billion was pledged at a conference in Paris in October last year during the war between Hezbollah and Israel, with about a quarter allocated to the Lebanese Armed Forces.
France also played a leading role along with the US in mediating a November ceasefire which ended 14 months of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-scale war, which significantly weakened the group, which was once considered a formidable militia.
Despite the deal, Israel has continued to strike southern Lebanon almost daily, killing at least 79 Lebanese civilians since November last year, according to the UN peacekeeping force Unifil, hardening Hezbollah’s opposition to surrendering its weapons.
Under the agreement, the Israeli army is required to withdraw from all occupied positions in southern Lebanon and end strikes on the country, while Hezbollah is to dismantle its military infrastructure, starting south of the Litani River.
Israel has said it expects the Lebanese army to begin disarming Hezbollah before it pulls out of the five strategic positions where its forces remain.
Mr Aoun told Mr Le Drian that Lebanon was abiding by its side of the ceasefire, and that the Lebanese army was deploying to eliminate all armed presence, “whether Lebanese or Palestinian”, starting south of the Litani.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem has insisted the group will not discuss disarmament until Israel withdraws from Lebanese territory, stops its military actions and releases detainees.
During a speech on Wednesday, he asked the Lebanese state to stop claiming “exclusivity “over weapons, saying Israel will never stop its project, which he said is the creation of a “Greater Israel” in the region.
