News

The Minister of Agriculture, Akram Shehayeb, received yesterday a delegation from the World Bank and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) currently on a tour to Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Discussions covered the status of Syrian refugees, the support to host countries and the water shortage crisis. The meeting centered on the preparation of partnership projects between the three parties to generate jobs for displaced people as well as their hosting communities. Among other topics of discussion, were finding ways to advance agricultural production and develop an ideal strategy for the investment of the country’s natural resources . Present at the meeting, were the FAO representative to Lebanon, Dr. Maurice Saadeh, the general director of the Cooperatives and chairperson of the Green Plan, Gloria Abu Zeid, the head of the Directorate of Agricultural Resources, Mohamad Abu Zeid, the director of the Rural Development and Natural Resources Department, Dr. Shadi Mhanna and the head of the Directorate of Animal Resources at the Agriculture Ministry, Abeer Salwan. (Al Diyar, June 2, 2016)

 

In collaboration with the Tripoli Bar Association, the Lebanese University School of Law and Political Sciences- organized in Tripoli a mock trial of an honor killing played by a number of students. The trial was held at the premises of the Bar Association, the Justice Palace, in the northern capital, in the presence of a large group of lawyers and law students. On the occasion, the school dean, Kamil Habib, outlined the adultery-related legal articles and their amendments, pointing out that the issue of honor is not legislative, rather it is the work of mind and heart of its holder. The society, Habib maintained, is trapped in the vicious circle of ill patterns, and awaits a cultural revolution that wipes out destructive traditions. Women, he said, are not the guardians of honor, and therefore, we should instead work on realizing equality with men. Honor, Habib concluded, requires the emancipation of Arab citizens through rebuilding a civil state based on the principles of equality, justice and the observance of the law. (Al Mustaqbal, June 1, 2016)

 

SANAD Hospice Care hosted its third annual gala dinner last week at Sursok Gardens in Ashrafieh, Beirut, in collaboration with Socrate Catering. During the event, the president of the association, Lubna Ezzedine, underlined the significance of support by civil society and thanked Socrate Catering for its huge backing that reaped great funds this year. This, Ezzedine maintained, will substantially contribute to the expansion and development of the organization’s services in order to offer the best care possible and protect the patient’s dignity and quality of life. SANAD president also praised all the sponsors that were there since the onset of the NGO back in 2010. It is to be noted, that the gala dinner comes as part of SANAD’s objective to assist terminally-ill patients within the sanctuary of their own home. The free of charge services delivered cover medical, nursing, social and psychological care. 

Al Mustaqbal, May 29, 2016

 

In collaboration with the Collective for Research and Training for Development-Action (CRTD.A), the Hoop and Wire (Tara wa Kheit) workshop affiliated with the Safadi Foundation Women’s Academy, launched on Monday the first line of maternity clothing entitled ‘Beauty and the Bump in Bloom’. During the ceremony held at the Zaituna Bay as part of the Beirut Design Week, Lara Safadi Habbal, said the activity was just the beginning. Many more productive and sustainable projects will see the light soon under the supportive umbrella of the Foundation’s Social Development Department. She emphasized that the revenues from the event will continue to fund the training of women to become financially independent and self-reliant. Safadi also mentioned the accomplishments by the Tara wa Kheit group last year, also carried out in collaboration with CRTD.A (crtda.org.lb). These achievements mainly focus on economic ventures that support the empowerment of women, particularly those living in the old neighborhoods of the northern capital. Safadi concluded by saying that the celebration today summons a big stride to success, and it comes after persistent training and hard work from which these women learned a lot. (L’Orient Le Jour, June 1, 2016)

The Lebanese-French architect, Lina Ghatmeh, received the Grand Prix Afex 2016 award for her reconstruction of the National Museum of Estonia during a ceremony held last Friday in Venice, Italy. It should be noted, that this is the second award for Ghatmeh after her previous winning project, ‘The Rehabilitation of Massena Station’, a project which was part of a bigger scheme to reshape the French capital, Paris, and which proposed to turn the rail station into a habitat for agricultural and organic food production. (L’Orient Le Jour, May 31, 2016)

 

In collaboration with the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), Bayat entrepreneurship incubator in Tripoli, kicked off yesterday the second phase of the ‘Support Entrepreneurs and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)’ project at the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Tripoli and the North. During the launching, the project coordinator, Rana Rashed, pointed out to the close relationship between the DRC and the incubator which supervises the implementation of the above program for the second consecutive year, in partnership between Lebanese and Syrian entrepreneurs. For his part, Bayat general manager, Fawaz Hamdi, underlined the importance of feasibility studies which contain useful undertakings for the generation of young entrepreneurs. It is not an issue of funding only, Hamdi maintained, but also that of partnership that helps secure steady and productive prospects. Similarly, Bayat coordinator of cooperation with the Danish side, Sally Ayi outlined the basis of cooperation between the two parties, as well as the preparations for the next stage of the project. New grants applications and for registrations in the second phase of the project must be submitted by June 30th, at CCIA headquarters in Tripoli. (Al Mustaqbal, May 31, 2016)

 

The first Arab women conference was held yesterday at the House of the Lawyer in Beirut under the banner ‘legislations and laws related to women affairs: comparisons and paradoxes’. The event was jointly organized in collaboration with the Beirut Bar Association )BBA,( which was chaired by its president lawyer, Antonio Hashem, and the women committee at the Arab Lawyers Union ALU and in the presence of a large group of public figures. On the occasion, Hashem stressed that women in the region still suffer from the big gap between their actual potentials and the rights bestowed to them by prevalent legal and social systems. “Accomplishments by Arab women so far do not reflect their important actual role, and they are threatened by the growing religious extremism in the region,” said Hashem. He also noted the insufficient role played by women’s committees within trade unions, while calling for the creation organisations of Arab women lawyers under the umbrella of the ALU. For his part, ALU secretary general, Abdel Latif Bu Ashreen, considered that the era of domination by patriarchal mindsets has come to an end, and lauded the remarkable progress in the role of women in the past decade as a result of mounting democracy and human rights movements in which women advocacy groups have actively taken part. However, Bu Ashreen added, that the present general political scene in the region indicates that growing interest in women affairs was largely motivated by the need for external marketing, while concluding that Arab political parties and leaderships still do not respect or trust the performance of women. For her part, the head of the women committee, Asma Hemadeh Dagher hoped that participants will agree a unified platform in order to start pressuring regional parliaments and governments towards reforming discriminatory legislations against women. (Al Mustaqbal, May 31, 2016)

 

The ministry of industry is organizing a four-day celebration of the ‘National Day of the Lebanese Industry’. The event starts at 3:30pm, today, Tuesday, with the opening of a training center at the Syndicate of Artisan, Industry Ministry, in Badaro. The occasion is sponsored by minister Hussein Haj Hassan and attended by local, Arab and international economic figures. On the agenda of Wednesday’s activities, is the EUROMED-ANIMA Invest meeting that will be held at the Bristol Hotel for, with the participation of some 150 representatives from the European Union and Arab countries, and which will focus on discussing ways of cooperation, as well as, the development of various exchanges, between Euro-Mediterranean countries. The closing day will host the annual Starbucks contest that is usually organized by the Lebanese Packaging Center, LibanPack. (Al Mustaqbal, May 31, 2016)

 

A survey by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) targeting 184 states in 24 regions across the world, ranked Lebanon in the 30th position in terms of direct and indirect contribution of its travel and tourism industry to the GDP in 2015. Entitled ‘The Economic Impact of the Travel and Tourism Industry for 2016’ which assesses the economic impact of the above sector in national economy and in the provision of jobs, pointed out that Lebanon’s contribution reached 22.1%, (US Dollars 9.9 billion), exceeding the global average rate of 9.8%. The direct contribution of the travel and tourism industry to the Gross National Product stood at 8.1%, (USD 3.6 billion) as compared to a global average rate of 3%. Regarding labor, the report indicated that the total number of jobs in the said sector was estimated at 326.8 thousand jobs in 2015, (tantamount to 21.3% of the labor market). The WTTC report also revealed that the total size of investments in the sector was estimated at USD 1.3 billion, representing 9.9% of total capital investments in the country. It also revealed that the overall spending by foreign tourists contributed to USD 6.9 billion, (51.9% of the total spending on tourism). 

(Al Diyar, May 30, 2016)

 

With the support of the UNDP and UNIFIL, Women in Front Association ended last Saturday its project, ‘Activating the Role of Southern Women in Public Affairs’ aimed at training active women in South Lebanon and the empowerment of their skills to take part in public and municipal life. Some 23 women from the districts of Bint Jbeil and Tyre attended a ceremony held at the Cultural Movement Center in Tyre, which also saw the presence of the head of the Federation of Tyre Municipalities, Abdel Mohsen Husseini, as well as Baker Adam and Raghad Assi representing the UNIFIL and UNDP respectively. The beneficiaries completed a 5-day training workshop covering many topics, notably: municipal work and municipal budget; how to assess the needs of the community and the progress of projects; how to appear in the media and the art of public speech; how to assess and develop the personal image and how to write and submit a proposal to donors. Each participant presented a project which contributed to the advancement of her neighborhood, and were handed certificates to this effect. (Al Mustaqbal, May 29, 2016)