BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud said Tuesday Lebanon will have no official presence at a Francophone summit later this month, blaming French pressure on hosts Romania.

"Lebanon will not participate at the Francophone summit because no invitation has been sent to the president of the republic," a statement from Lahoud's office said of the 28-29 meeting in Bucharest.

"The presence of any Lebanese official at whatever level will be considered as a personal presence and will not represent the state of Lebanon," the statement said.

Lahoud said it was "deeply regrettable" that Romanian President Traian Basescu had "given in to pressure from French President Jacques Chirac ... and did not send the head of state an invitation".

Lahoud is largely boycotted by the West since his mandate was controversially extended following a constitutional modification put through parliament by pro-Syrian MPs in September 2004. France co-authored a UN Security Council resolution at around the same time that called for Syrian forces to quit Lebanon. Syrian troops left their long-dominated neighbour last year following the February 2005 assassination of billionaire former premier Rafiq Hariri -- also a personal friend of Chirac's.

Hariri's son Saad now heads the largest bloc in Lebanon's parliament following election losses by pro-Syrian elements.

Romania invited Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to the summit, but Siniora said he would send Culture Minister Tarek Mitri "as a personal representative", slamming what he called "the moral and political loss" of Lebanon's absence.

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