BEIRUT: Lebanon’s stability partly depends on implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, the U.N. envoy to Lebanon said Tuesday, adding that Prime Minister Najib Mikati would be traveling to New York this month.

“I emphasized the need to safeguard Lebanon’s stability and security, particularly at a time of dramatic changes throughout the Arab world and part of that stability is guaranteed by Security Council Resolution 1701,” United Nations Special Coordinator to Lebanon Michael Williams said after meeting with Mikati at the Grand Serail.

Williams added that the resolution, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon, had brought stability to Lebanon along the Blue Line for more than five years as it had increased the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force of up to 15,000 troops to help the Lebanese Army police the border with Israel.

“I am also very pleased that the president will be going to New York later this month and also separately the prime minister will be going to New York,” Williams added.

Williams congratulated Mikati on Lebanon’s presidency of the Security Council this month, describing it as a historic month.

“There will be a number of meetings on Middle Eastern issues [in the Security Council]. The question of Palestine, as you know, is perhaps uppermost in that regard,” Williams said, adding that events in Libya and Syria would also be discussed.

Also Tuesday, Mikati met with U.N. Interim Forces in Lebanon Force Commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas for a meeting in which the two discussed the situation in the south and coordination between the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon and the Lebanese Army.

During the meeting Mikati emphasized the need for friendly countries to support the Lebanese Army by equipping them to enable the army to better implement the resolution.

"The Lebanese government is committed to taking the necessary measures to allow international forces to do their task in helping the Lebanese army preserve security in the south," Mikati said during his meeting with Asarta, Mikati's office said in a statement.