Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Monday chaired the first meeting of the new Lebanese government which was announced on Friday in the presence of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Addressing the meeting, Aoun said the new government members and hope that the new government would stand up to all challenges to meet the aspirations of the Lebanese people. Aoun's statement came as the new government, formed on Friday, was meeting for the first time in the presidential palace Baabda. "We will face big difficulties and we will work on devising the possible solutions," Aoun said in a statement on twitter. A new government has been formed in crisis-ridden Lebanon on Friday, ending a more than year-long power vacuum that began shortly after the August 2020 Beirut port blast. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a billionaire who has already twice served as premier, will lead a cabinet of ministers that will preside over an economic depression which the World Bank considers one of the world's worst since the mid-19th century.