State Minister Ali Qanso said forming the new cabinet under Premier Fouad Saniora is "victory to all of Lebanon."

Qanso, former leader of the Syrian Social National Party, said his relations with Saniora would be similar to "a relation between a minister and a prime minister."

Such a relation with Saniora, he added, would be based on "respect to him and to his post."

The controversy that accompanied his nomination to a cabinet post is "behind me along with all the past," he added.