BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman said Wednesday that the ongoing developments in the region will move countries in the Arab world toward a democratic political system and would serve the interests of Lebanon.

In an interview with a Yerevan-based Armenian TV on the eve of his official visit to Armenia, Sleiman said that countries in the region could not remain on the sidelines of the political transformation that the world was going through as a result of globalization.

“Countries in the Arab world cannot stand outside of this transformation and progress … the Arab world is currently going through a transformation toward democracy and a system that Lebanon would benefit from because it has had a democratic system for a long time,” said Sleiman.

Since the beginning of pro-democracy uprisings in Tunisia in December of last year, three Arab presidents have been overthrown and ongoing protests in Syria continue to call for President Bashar Assad’s departure from power.

“These developments will also result in a change in leadership,” Sleiman added.

Sleiman said that changes in the Arab world should include a change in the situation in occupied Palestine. “It is not enough to have democracy in the Arab world, there should also be a solution to the Palestinian struggle … who should regain their rights in a sovereign Palestine,” said Sleiman.