Farès Boueiz

Farès Boueiz (Arabic: فارس بويز, born 15 January 1955) 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.

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.

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. 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 general elections in 2009, Boueiz 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 argued that the Nazis' approach against Jewish people was based on political reasons stating "they have behaved arrogantly like the chosen people of God."

Personal life Boueiz married Zalfa Hrawi in 1985 and is the son-in-law of Elias Hrawi.