News updates

The NDU employment office kicked off the annual 2014 job fair at its Campus in Zouk Mosbeh under the auspices of the Minister of Labor, Mr. Sijaan Azzi who promised to curb foreign labor.  The subject of this job The vice Dean of Cultural and Public Relations Affairs at the NDU, Suheil Matar, called for collaboration with Minister Azzi in carrying out a scientific research to identify the exact needs of the Lebanese job market and the specializations required to meet these needs.  He considered that youth unemployment is a worst problem than immigration. For her part, the responsible of the NDU employment office, Layal Nehme Matar, highlighted the important role of the university in giving hope, determination and faith to the use and in arming them with education and culture.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar, Al-Nahar 21 May 2014

The Minister of the Industry, Dr. Hussein hajj Hussein, inaugurated last week a conference entitled “Graphical System Design” which was organized by “National Instruments” for the ninth consecutive year.  The conference was attended by researchers, academics and engineers from Lebanon and other Arab countries and aimed at presenting new technologies in the field of industrial technology and IT as a key way to improve production, overcome trade and export barriers as well as increase profits.  Hajj Hassan noted that the technology and software industry is one of the Lebanese productive sectors that can potentially develop further and is considered to be one of the future pillars of the economy since it is capable of competing in the external markets given Lebanon and the Lebanese’s competitive edge.  He added that the Ministry is ready to discuss with private companies various projects and programmes which can develop this sector.  He invited projects holders to submit their visions and ideas to the Ministries of Industry and of Education.

Hajj Hassan concluded by noting that human resources are Lebanon’s main wealth and they need to be optimally invested in such as for instance directing the IT sector towards production and not only servicing.  He noted that this sector requires new educational programmes in universities and VT institutes so that Lebanon is able to have well trained graduates who can accompany global developments.

Source: Al-Diyar 20 May 2014

As Safir newspaper published a report about a Syrian displaced woman from Idlib, Aush Haykal, who held on to her sewing machine and brought it with her to Lebanon with the help of her family given that the machine is big and heavy.  The machine was transported across the border and then to the displacement centre in Marje3yun.
Aush is now known as the seamstress for as many as 1500 Syrian residents in the displacement centre in Marje3yun who come to her and also from the nearby valleys of Mary, Mjaidiyeh, Sardeh, Wazzani.  Her machine is her key source of livelihood helping her to generate income of some LBP 10000 to 20000 per day which she uses to feed her family of five children as her husband died during the war.
Aush notes that her machine is needed by the displaced during all seasons and occasions.  She added that her work has developed from simple alterations of clothes distributed to the displaced to manufacturing wedding gowns as the displaced are marrying at the rate of at least one wedding a week.  Aush added that the wedding gown does not cost much because she can buy raw material including fabric and sequins from the popular market or she simply recycles old clothes and material in the camp.  Each wedding gown can cost between LBP 50 to 300 thousand whilst alteration of one trouser hardly costs LBP 1000.
Source: Al-Safir 19 May 2014

Economic circles as well as key social and business figures of Tripoli convened a press conference last week at the Chamber for Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of the North to warn against the decision taken by the Cabinet during its last session and which calls for freezing three major development projects in Tripoli namely the re-opening of the railroad, completing the land reclamation for the special economic zone, and the project to develop the Al Tall area.  The economic and trade union organizations warned against this move and asked the government to reconsider its decision as the city is in urgent need of such projects to create employment opportunities for the youth as well as contribute to the local economy especially after the massive losses to which Tripoli was subjected as a result of the various rounds of violence over the past years.
Within the same vein, the Minister of Social Affairs, Rashid Derbas, noted during the inauguration of the Ibda3 Company for micro-finance in Mina last week, his full support to the economic and business institutions.  He added that Tripoli was recently subjected to armed violence and is now calling for life.  For his part, Minster of Justice, Ashraf Rifi confirmed that the three development projects were listed on the Cabinet’ss agenda, but were postponed until next week and will definitely be endorsed.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Diyar, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar 19 May 2014

L’Orient le Jour published an article yesterday on the arbitrary arrest of four Senegalese women domestic workers who wanted to spend the night outside their employer’s houses.  According to the report, the four women were arrested by the police whilst sleeping at a house used by the Senegalese community in Tarik Jdideh.  The women were brutally treated even though they had papers in good order. They were detained first at the general security premises in Sodeco and then moved to the detention centre in Adlyeh and were not allowed to contact their employers.
According to the newspaper, the reasons for the arrest vary by sources.  Friends of the four women noted that they were detained and mistreated so that they be interrogated about another Senegalese woman who fled her employer because of mistreatment.  According to the general security, they were detained because of the sponsorship system which forces migrant workers not to leave their employer’s home.
Human Rights Watch representative, Nadim Houri, condemned the mistreatment to which the four women were subjected especially in the absence of any clear accusation and also since their employers do not mind that they spend the night out.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour 19 May 2014

The USAID-run programme aiming to develop the productive sectors in Lebanon organized last week at the Batrounyat centre, the “Avocado Day”.  The event included a number of activities notably a seminar on the health benefits of Avocado and the various ways to prepare it.  This programme is implemented in collaboration with the Batroun Development and Cultural League and with funding from USAID.
The president of the Batroun league, Joumana Abi Saleh Nasr, stressed the importance of organising an “Avocado Day” especially as a way to provide women with additional information on how to utilize this product.  Speaking of behalf of the USAID, George Iphram spoke of the assistance presented by the latter to NGOs and educational institutions notably school scholarships, funding water and environmental projects as well as collaborating with various sectors namely the agricultural sector.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 19 May 2014

The 475 daily workers at the Electricity Company are still holding their peaceful sit-in to protest for not being paid their salaries for two months.  They have now adopted a new way to express their hardship as they resorted to selling flowers, kaak and cheese and legumes to passersby.  The daily workers intend to continue with the same tactic as, according to an interview by As Safi with one of the women daily workers, their plans are to sell corn on the cob and candy floss which have an even higher turnover rate!
With regards to the overall efforts to resolve this matter, sources within the Ministry of Finance told As Safir that the Ministry has not yet received any official communication from the administration of the Electricity Company on this subject.  The source confirms that the Ministry of Finance is not responsible for the delay in salaries payment for the daily workers.  The Electricity Company told As Safir that it is doing all that it can to safeguard the rights of daily workers and the continuity of their jobs and the obstacles are somewhere else.
Source: Al-Safir 16 May 2014

The Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Saida and South Lebanon in collaboration with the Federation of Arab Banks organized yesterday in Saida a seminar on the importance of financing and developing small and medium enterprises as a strategic choice for economic development. The President of the Chamber, Mohammed Hassan Saleh, noted in his intervention that small and medium enterprises represent 90% of business outfits worldwide and provide 40 to 80% of the total work opportunities and contribute to around 85% of the gross national product in many countries of the world.  He also insisted on the need to create mechanisms and financing programmes to support innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological advancement to strengthen the role of small and medium enterprises in social and economic development. The Chair of the Board of Kafalat, Khater Abi Habib, spoke about the services provided by Kafalat to small and medium enterprises and explained Kafalat’s objectives and the support it provides to strengthen productive sectors notably in agriculture, tourism and IT.
The seminar closed with a speech by the general secretary of the Federation of Arab Banks, Wissam Fattu7h, who stressed the importance of raising awareness on the importance of small and medium enterprises in Arab economies.  He noted that despite the importance of this sector and which is well recognized by developed countries, up till now, there are no sufficient strategies in the Arab region to strengthen this sector especially in terms of financing particularly since the share of this sector from overall loan portfolio of the Arab banking sector does not exceed 8%.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar 16 May 2014

LibanPack organized for the fifth consecutive year an event to commemorate the distribution of prizes to winners of the Lebanon Students Star Pack 2014 competition.  The event was organized yesterday at the UNESCO under the auspices and with the participation of the Minister of Industry, Dr. Hussein Hajj Hassan, and with the support of the Association of Industrialists and UNIDO.
The President of LibanPack, Suha Atallah, noted that this competition was characterized by a higher number of entries from Lebanon and beyond as 500 students from 10 Lebanese universities and 4 Arab universities (from Jordan, Palestine and Egypt) competed.  She noted that this further underscores the importance of this competition as well as the role of the association in raising the awareness of industrialists and farmers on the importance of packaging in improving marketing prospects, in upgrading quality and increasing competitiveness.
The Minister of the Industry, Hajj Hassan, spoke about the important role that packaging plays in boosting the value of products and their comparative advantage notably in terms of food safety.  He also added that Lebanon has high technical capabilities amongst its students which can potentially enable it to become a packaging hub for the Arab world and, in this way, can boost exports rather than the migration of young people.
The winners and their categories included the following:
Hala Toot, from the Lebanese University won the first prize for the skeletal design category, followed by Diana Thebian, from LU as well, Noor Abu Shaqra, from LAU, while Rudy Khuri also from LAU won the UniPack Prize for Innovation. In the visual design category, Nabil Haidar from Rafic Hariri University won the first place, followed by Jean Rizk, from AUST and Lina Haydar from LIU.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal 14 May 2014

The Daily Star newspaper published, last Monday, an interview with Major Suzan El Hajj, the head of the Cyber Crime and Intellectual Property Protection Office of the Internal Security Forces, as part of its weekly interviews with pioneer Lebanese women from various sectors.
Hajj was born and raised in a small town in the northern district of Kura. She graduated from Balamand University, majored in computer and communications engineering and holds a master’s degree in computer science. She became the first woman officer to join the ranks of the ISF in 2001 when her father, who was also a member of the ISF, spotted a recruitment notice in computer and communications which did not specify that only males could apply for the position.
During her work at the ISF, Hajj created the “Rights, Equality and Diversity Bureau” to ensure that the concerns of officers and minorities in particular, including women, are relayed to the government, though the office has yet to be formally established.
In another vein, Hajj emphasized that Lebanese associations rallying for women’s rights need to join force under one umbrella to achieve changes on a large scale. She also pointed out that, women should make sure that progress continuous in all fields, especially in the realm of local government, stressing that: “when people see and accept a woman as mayor and understand that she was truly elected, the scope for seeing more women in Parliament will no longer be a far-fetched idea. Finally Hajj called on young girls to never give up hopes for success, regardless of difficulties, adding that young girls need to become their own role models in this day and age.
Source: The Daily Star 12 May 2014