News updates

In its issue of yesterday, L'Orient le Jour interviewed Lebanese-Italian Nahida Nakad who received the Women of Gold award for 2014.  Nakad woks as a report for French TV TF1 and is the head of France 24 channel which broadcasts in Arabic.  This award is addressed to women who score achievements in their professional lives and is based on voting by the public undertaken in Haute-Savoie.  Nakad noted that women's work is not adequately recognised in various professional sectors and women who reach high positions do so with great difficulty.  She added that the world is very much patriarchal and that gender inequality in Lebanon is very visible and that women have important impact on the national developments.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour 15 December 2014

The Ministry of Agriculture launched its 2015 - 2019 strategy during an event organised yesterday under the auspices of the Prime Minister Tammam Salam.  The director general of the Ministry, Louis Lahhud, noted that the strategy was developed with support from Agriculture and Rural Development Project (ARDP) funded by the EU and with technical assistance from a Consortium composed of Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (MAIB) and Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier, the Lebanese International Business and Communication Company (IBCC), lead by the Italian AGRICONSULTING Company.  Lahhud clarified that the strategy is financed by the European Union and will be implemented in eight directions, namely providing healthy and quality nutrition from local production and exports through producing a food safety policy, increasing production and competitiveness, strengthening rational management and sustainable use of natural resources, strengthening agricultural extension, education and agricultural and scientific research, strengthening the cooperatives sector, modernising the structure of the Ministry and upgrading its role and addressing the impact of climate change.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar 16 December 2014

The Minister of the Industry, Dr. Hussein Hajj Hassan called for a Press Conference yesterday during which he discussed the issue of food safety within the food industry in Lebanon as well as review the implications of the present food safety campaign kicked off by the current Minister of Public Health a month ago.  Hajj Hassan noted that the proprietors of some factories intend to either close or move to other countries.  This, according to the Minister, poses grave concern regarding the situation of thousands of families whose members work in this sector.  Hajj Hassan called on the media to act responsibly in dealing with this matter.  Hajj Hassan also noted that although a number of infarctions unveiled were indeed true, yet, when the institutions in question arranged their situations, they were not treated fairly.  He added that there are 20 factories which have been granted the ISO 22000 certificate whilst 70 others are in pipeline.  Hajj Hassan also pointed out to the characteristics of the Lebanese food industry which exports USD 400 million yearly with only 1% products being returned.  He concluded that the food sector employs some 50,000 workers and constitutes 4% of the country GDP.

Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Diyar, Al-Akhbar 16 December 2014

The European Neighbourhood Partnership Initiative (ENPI) held a conference in Rome last week to review the outputs of the programme outputs during the past seven years and to launch a new strategy for 2015 - 2020 within the framework of the ENPI programme which was granted a budget of Euro 209 million.  The strategy includes a number of components namely, strengthening social and economic development, supporting education, diversifying sustainable tourism, technology transfer, and support to SMEs in research and innovation. Countries eligible for the programme include Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Malta, Spain, France, as well as Israel.  Cooperation with Syria was however suspended in 2011. Some 70 people from Lebanon participated in the conference including representatives from Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture and municipalities, as well as organising involved in development programmes in Lebanon especially those receiving EU funding.
Source: Al-Safir 13 December, Al-Mustaqbal 15 December 2014

Honey industry developing in Lebanon but needs protection
Al Mustaqbal newspaper published a report on the beekeeping and honey production sector in Lebanon. According to the united association of beekeepers’ cooperatives Suhail Qudmani, this sector is gaining importance and increasing considerably.  He added that beekeepers are abreast of global developments despite their limited resources.  He also expressed the fact that beekeepers trust the decision of the current Minister of Agriculture which gives due consideration to this sector and is seeking to expand and protect it.  Qudmani also noted the importance of taking care of this sector as well as find scientific solutions for the problems it is facing because it is linked to all other forms of agriculture and is thus crucial for food security for humanity at large.
The head of the united association of beekeepers’ cooperatives in Beqaa, and the head of beekeepers’ cooperative in Qar3un Elie Abu Fares noted for his part that the environment for beekeeping was pure a few years ago but is now witnessing negative changes as a result of overuse of poisonous pesticides as well as increasing pollution.  He expressed his regrets for this situation as Lebanese honey production is as good and as high in quality as foreign production but is of limited quantity.  Abu Fares warned against chaotic import of foreign honey.  He said that there is no problem with regulated and controlled imports.  The issue is with illicit imports as well as with the Arab trade agreement which allows honey to come in tax free. Beekeeper Reshrash Naji from Rashayya noted that beekeeping is doing well and is a source of livelihood for tens of families despite the fact that it decreased in a number of areas in Lebanon.  However, according to him, Rashayya honey is high in demand as it is still preserving its high quality given that the environment in pollution and pesticide free and given that agriculture in the area is arable and the sources of water are clean.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 14 December 2014

The Intellectual Civil Forum organised a seminar yesterday on “job market and university majors” in Aley.  The event was held under the auspices of the Minister of Agriculture, Akram Chehayeb, who spoke about the problem of unemployment in Lebanon which, according to him, ranges between 18 and 20% but increases to 60% amongst young people and graduates.  He noted that this unemployment rate is amongst the highest in the region.  Chehayeb deplored the absence of government employment policies, the lack of clear assessment of the problem and poor data. Chehayeb further added that work opportunities in Lebanon are limited and that the situation is further complicated by the deepening crisis.  He highlighted the incompatibility between the needs of the job market and existing programmes to train technicians and specialists, adding that there are some 35,000 university graduates every year against only 5,000 new jobs.
Source: Al-Diyar 13 December 2014

The current Minister of Labor, Sejaan Azzi, said yesterday that the first employment opportunities for youth project has now been dispatched to the Cabinet and is to be approved in principle next week.  The project will be implemented by the National Office of Employment in collaboration with the World Bank and will create 4600 new work opportunities for young men and women entering the job market for the first time. Azzi also noted that the Ministry of Labor is also working on strengthening links with international agencies in order to provide other new employment opportunities.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar, Al-Hayat, Al-Mustaqbal 12 December 2014

The Minister of Economy and Trade, Alain Hakim, inaugurated this morning the “Innovation Forum for Family Businesses” organized by the Lebanon Business Management Organisation in collaboration with the Economy and Businesses Group (EBG), where some 200 participants from Lebanon and the Arab region took part in this event.  Participants’ profiles ranged from family business holders to senior managers from banks, insurance companies, exporters and service providers in addition to a number of directors general and heads of economic institutions.  In his opening address, Hakim highlighted the importance of family businesses in the Lebanese economy and added that these are present in all sectors and are quite common in the commercial sector.  Hakim also noted that the key to the success of such enterprises is their ability to adapt to any economic environment.  The head of EBG, Ra2uf Abu Zeki noted that the main problem facing family businesses is their reliance during their inception phase on charisma of the founder, often a “self-made man” (!?) with strong personality and able to innovate in business or in industry. For his part, the president of the federation of chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture, Mohammed Choucair, added that these businesses helped Lebanon overcome the implications of the global financial crisis and protected Lebanon from the various setbacks caused recently as a result of the subsequent crisis that the country was subjected to.
Source: Al-Diyar, Al-Safir 12 December 2014

Fe-Male launched last Monday a documentary film entitled “Image on Demand” on women’s image in the media.  The film was produced in collaboration with the RDFL and directed by Jad Ghosn and Adib Farhat.  It highlighted the ways in which the media portrays women at the level of songs, soap operas and advertisement where women are shown to be sex objects to increase marketing.
In its coverage of the event, Al-Nahar newspaper noted that the responsibility of portraying women is not limited to the media only or to the promoters or the laws as responsibility falls also on women who agree to being objectified, insisting that the documentary should have tackled this aspect. For her part, Saada Allaw of As-Safir noted that whereas the documentary showed a number of issues related to women, it did not succeed in deeply addressing any of these issues. Allaw also noted that the film did not highlight the partnership between media and civil society which succeeded in advancing the rights of women. The third issue raised by Allaw was the fact that no mention was made of the stereotyped gender images reproduced by educational curriculum and which is reproduced by the media.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Safir 11 December 2014

As Safir newspaper published a report yesterday with regards to the food safety campaign of the current Minister of Public Health.  This Campaign had had a positive impact on the rural Mouneh sector particularly in Hasbaya where products are suddenly in high demand with producers unable to meet the requests of their new customers.
Salma Harfuch, a producer of various kinds of winter Mouneh, noted that requests are mostly for dairy products especially Labneh followed by free range chicken.  In addition, people are mostly going to small butcheries which depend on locally grazed livestock.  Harfoush commended Abou Faour’s action and expressed her pride with rural products whilst ensuring that they are natural and healthy and are devoid of artificial coloring and preservatives, adding that such products include fruits, vegetables, grains, milk and dairy products, olive oil and olives, figs and grapes in addition to jams and molasses.  Alia Assaf, also a Mouneh producer, had started making her own products for her household consumption.  She supported Harfush’s statement and added that their production meet health standards and is of better quality than what is on the market even if nicely packaged.  Hadia noted for her part that she works daily to prepare yoghurt and other dairy products from a livestock of goats owned by the family and is meeting local demand.  She added that this has encouraged the residents of Hasbaya to develop this skills thus making use of technical assistance provided by local and international organizations in the form of various training events and seminars.
Source: Al-Safir 11 December 2014