News updates

The Parliamentary Commission for Agriculture and Tourism held yesterday a meeting yesterday which was headed by MP Ayoob 7hmayyed.  The Commission focused on reviewing the extent of the damages incurred by the storm during the past two weeks.  The Commission was in agreement over the necessity to support the agricultural solidarity fund to enable it to compensate farmers who suffer from natural disasters.  By the end of the meeting, MP 7hmayyed declared that an agreement was reached to support small farmers through agricultural extension as well as improving their export potentials.  The Minister of Agriculture, Akram Chehayeb, noted for his part that the Cabinet and the Ministry do not have currently the financial means to compensate all farmers but are able nevertheless to support small farmers who live from one season to another and are committed to bank loans and various debts.  As such, the livelihoods of small farmers are heavily dependent on the kind of support that the state will provide them with.

(Source: Al-Diyar & As-Safir 27 January, 2015)

 

The Working Women Union in the North organized a discussion seminar on the stereotypes which guide relations between women and men in the family.  The seminar grouped women from the villages of Tell Meyan and Tell Hayat in Akkar.  Participants spoke about their experiences in the field of work and how they relate to their husbands.  Women also spoke about the various tasks that they do like minor agricultural work and Mooneh production.  According to Al Mustaqbal newspaper which published this report, although these tasks are basic, yet, they allowed women from Akkar to engage, albeit in a limited way, in the public domain. In sharing their stories, some women spoke about being beaten by their husbands and accepting it.  Another young woman told the group that her father forbade her from going back to school because he saw her talking with a male classmates.  She called for the creation of same sex schools in case gender integration was considered to be problematic.  Another woman said that she is happy with her work and that she no longer allows her husband to hit her.

 

(Source: Al-Mustaqbal 26 January, 2015)

 

The Joint Parliamentary Commissions had a brief meeting yesterday and finally succeeded in endorsing the Food Safety Law proposal which will be referred it to the Assembly so that it is approved during its next meeting.  To be noted that the endorsement of what is known as the Bassel Fuleihan law occurred following the introduction of some amendments according to the President of the Parliamentary Commission for health, MP Atef Majdalani.  The amendments mainly pertained to the prerogatives of the Council which explicitly included the need for to coordination with the relevant Ministries.  Other amendments related to the party which has tutelage over the Council, a tutelage which now falls within the responsibilities of the Prime Minister. The project law considers the Council as a financially and administratively independent body. On this, Minister of Public Health, Wael Abou Faour, noted that he would have preferred the Council to have full executive prerogative rather than being constrained by coordination with Ministries.  According to As Safir newspaper, the mandate of this new law includes all types of food and beverages including water and all material used for food production, packaging, treatment and marketing as well as all agricultural products even if they are not considered to be nutrients.

For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Akram Shehayeb revealed a new scandal related to Zaatar production. According to the Minister, the authorities intercepted a trading shop located in 3aramoon which was using bran died in red or green and mixed with powder wood, citrus and only a bit of Zaatar imported from Syria and then sold as Lebanese Zaatar.  Minister Shehayeb announced the foreclosure of the culprit trading shop as well as of another institution that sells expired agricultural products, pesticides and veterinary meds.

Source: Al-Diyar, As-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Akhbar & Annahar 22 & 23 January, 2015)

 

Al Akhbar newspaper published on Wednesday an interview with a pioneer woman in the banking sector, namely Tanya Mussallem, the assistant General Manager of the BLC Bank who played a key role in developing programme for women.  Mussallem was recently appointed vice-president of the Global banking Alliance for Women which groups some of the most prestigious international banking and finance institutions.

Mussallem indicated that the Banking sector provides a more conducive environment for women who are there in high proportion but who remain poorly represented in leadership positions.   Mussallem added that presently women occupy 37% of the total managerial posts in her bank but plans are to raise this proportion to 50% by 2020.

Musallem felt that women, as customers, always hesitate in dealing with banks.  She said that she will work hard to change this reality through the implementation of the Bank’s Women Empowerment Initiative (WE Initiative) which seeks to empower women through supporting their initiatives with tailored-made banking products and services.  Mussallem further noted that women need support and encouragement so that they can reach their aspirations. However, they also need banking institutions that would accompany them in their professional journey and would provide them with special programmes. These special programmes should seek to provide financing to projects, organise workshops to build women’s capacities and strengthen their experiences as well as facilitate their entry into the job market.

 

(Source: Al-Akhbar 21 January,2015)

 

Caritas Liban inaugurated yesterday in Deir al A7hmar a cooperative packaging unit for potato and apple.  The unit is located within the refrigeration center in the same venue, and was established with a European grant of EU 224,000.  According to the President of the Deir al A7hmar Federation of Cooperatives, Sob7hi Khoury, the packaging unit is a vital project for farmers as it will help them stay in their land and take care of their agriculture.  He added that the capacity of the new unit is between 3000 and 8000 tons.  

(Source: Al-Diyar and Al-Mustaqbal 23 January 2015)

 

Further damages caused by Zina are now being recorded.  Following damages endured by farmers in Tyre, Akkar, and Byblos, Zina has also claimed additional large scale damages in the Metn, Shuf and Aley where pine trees and greenhouses used for flowers nurseries were destroyed.  According to As Safir newspaper, the significant destruction of pine forests in Higher Metn, Aley and Shuf highlands will surely affect next year’s harvest and will have severe social and economic implications on farmers in this sector estimated, throughout Lebanon, at some 50000 families according to the statistics of the Syndicate of pine tree farmers and workers.  Damages were also caused to apple trees yet; nevertheless, apple farmers were more concerned that their present surplus stock of refrigerated apples will not find markets abroad. On a related vein, reports indicated that the Syrian borders have now re-opened for six wheelers carrying Lebanese agricultural exports notably potatoes.  In fact some 230 trucks have crossed the border normally after a blockage of two weeks.  The closure was due to many reasons notably, poor weather conditions and the malfunction of the scanner machines which examines the transported goods and that are located on the Syrian side of the border.

 

(Source: As-Safir & Annahar 21&22 January,2015) 

 

According to As Safir’s issue of today, 28% of all working women occupy specialized professions (doctors, teachers, engineers,…) compared to only 8% of working men.  In addition, and according to data of the Central Administration of Statistics in 2009, women constitute 21% of the total membership of the engineers’ order in Beirut compared to 27% for the order in Tripoli.  The newspaper adds that although women’s share is rather low, yet, women engineers are constantly proving that women are able to attain professional success and reach high social and economic position while sometimes surpassing men.  Engineer Laila Awad noted that women have special skills and are able to effectively run their work and is able to deal with obstacles and challenges in a “cool way”, unlike men who tend to lose their temper.  Nabila, an agronomist, notes that women are patient and this reflects positively on their work and daily life and can be more resilient than men.  Jeanne D’arc, a computer engineer, noted that patriarchal mindsets which used to exclude women have slowly rescinded during the past few years mostly because women have proven themselves and their rights to have equal income and good positions as men. Regarding obstacles faced by women engineers, the newspaper noted the case of Samya, a civil engineer, who had to leave work after she had her first child as she was unable to continue working normally.

 

(Source: As-Safir 22 January, 2015)

 

According to a statement issued last week, the Economic, Social Fund for Development (ESFD) has supported 123 new projects during the last quarter of 2014 of a total value of LBP 3.46 billion, and thus creating 125 new employment opportunities.  These projects were supported from ESFD job creation component which works with local development unit to combat poverty and mitigate its impact on vulnerable communities.  With these latest figures, the total number of credits provided to SMEs since the initiation of the ESFD in 2003 and until December 2014 has risen to 8299 credits corresponding to LBP 137.6 billion, and resulting in the creation of 5853 new jobs. To be noted that ESFD was formed within the framework of European partnership, and through a financing agreement signed in November 2000 between the Lebanese government represented by the Council for Development and Reconstruction and the European Union.

 

(Source: Al-Mustaqbal and Al-Diyar 17 January,2015)

 

 

 

 

A delegation of the World Bank (WB) headed by Nigel Twose, senior director of the World Bank’s Jobs Cross-Cutting Group,held discussion seminar organized by WB last Friday on employment and unemployment and that is after meeting with the Central Bank and with the Ministry of Finance to discuss a strategy to boost the economy in order to create employment.  The Delegation noted during the seminar that such strategy is yet unclear and discussions are still at the level of brainstorming.  Twose noted for his part that the Lebanese economy suffers for a toxic mix of structural problems, poor growth, and lack of interest in creating jobs.  He added that the rich and power holders are doing well and the remaining majority is not.  On the outlines of such strategy, Twose noted that it is not acceptable to use the excuse of political stalemate and the strategy adopted by the Central Bank in terms of providing incentive packages and training is still way below meeting challenges.  He insisted on the importance to provide conditions for real growth of job opportunities.  He added that growth will come from emerging enterprises (start ups) however, challenges facing such enterprises are poor competitiveness, poor infrastructure namely electricity and transportation, high financing costs and the limited prospects, except for services and  IT which are benefiting from subsidized loans offered by the Central Bank).

 

(Source: Al-Akhbar 19 January,2015)