BEIRUT: British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher voiced his concern Monday about stability in Lebanon, but said his country would boost its assistance profile as a result of Beirut’s payment of its 2011 dues to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Fletcher welcomed Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s decision last week to pay Lebanon’s $32 million share to the U.N.-backed STL, which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

“Last week’s decision to fund the tribunal was the right decision for Lebanon and was a signal to Lebanon’s supporters in the international community that we can be more confident in taking the measures we want to take for Lebanon’s stability,” Fletcher told The Daily Star after meeting with Mikati at the Grand Serail.

He said it was important for Mikati to take a decision to fund the STL because it allows Great Britain and other countries that want to support Lebanon to examine ways in which the country’s stability could be enhanced.

Fletcher said he was worried about stability in Lebanon and on its borders, but added that the STL funding decision had now facilitated the possibility of assistance.

“I was pleased to give Prime Minister Mikati a positive response from David Cameron and suggestions for enhanced U.K. support for Lebanon,” Fletcher said. “This support will take many forms: increased training and other support for army and Internal Security Forces; an expansion of our work on joint education and English language projects; and a new push to secure British investment in Lebanon.”

“All of these would have been on hold until last week’s decision. We wouldn’t have felt able to give if Lebanon had placed itself outside of its international commitments.”

He said he expected an agreement on boosting stability to be signed within the next weeks and months, adding that he would be heading this week to London where he will urge British companies to invest in Lebanon.

The ambassador said he would be delivering a speech in London Friday on investment opportunities in the field of infrastructure, adding that British investments in Lebanon should also focus on the education sector, by offering Lebanese students scholarships to study in Britain.

Mikati also met with Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi who conveyed a letter from Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Riza Rahimi dealing with developments in the region.

Roknabadi said he discussed with Mikati regional and international developments, including the unrest in Syria. “I pointed out the widespread popular support for the regime in Syria. I stressed the attitude of the Islamic Republic of Iran in supporting the popular reform demands [in Syria],” he said. He added that the majority of Syrians wanted reforms under the leadership of President Bashar Assad.

Mikati later met with the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul-Karim Ali, who said there were “positive signals” that Syria would accept an Arab League peace plan to end the eight-month-long unrest there.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Ali said the talks focused on “brotherly relations and the need to protect the border between the two sisterly countries and prevent the smuggling of arms and tampering with security which reflects on the two brotherly countries.”

Asked about Syria’s response to the Arab initiative, Ali said: “Syria has from the beginning expressed its desire to establish the best inter-Arab relations and welcomed the efforts of brothers in dealing with this complicated and dangerous crisis in which the clues of a foreign conspiracy targeting Syria’s security, role and stability emerged.”

Referring to Sunday’s contacts between the Arab League and the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Ali said: “There are positive signals but they have not been announced yet.”