Industry minister aims to double Lebanese exports in 7 years

Prime Minister, Tamam Salam, said on the ‘National Day of Industry’ that despite huge ambitions to make industry the basic pillar of economy, this sector requires stability and favorable conditions to grow and flourish. Meanwhile, on the occasion, the minister of industry, Hussein Haj Hassan, set a timeline (5 to 7 years) needed to improve national industry. He said this will be achieved through “increasing total exports from USD 3.5 billion to USD 5 billion, while reducing imports from USD 18 billion to USD 16 billion.”  “As such, the trade deficit will fall from USD 15 billion to USD 11 billion,” he explained. The minister called on Arab and foreign partners to protect the Lebanese domestic economy and to support efforts aiming at boosting Lebanese exports and decreasing imports.

In a related vein, Haj Hassan sponsored earlier this week the 7th annual Lebanon Student Star Pack 2016 organized by the Lebanese Packaging Center, LibanPack, with the support of the Lebanese Industrialists Association and UNIDO. Among participants in the contest entitled ‘You love Lebanon, Work in the Industry Sector’, were some 400 students from prestigious universities in Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco who exhibited their innovative ideas in the packaging industry. Hajj Hassan noted the essential role of the canning and packaging technology as an added value to industrial and agricultural products. (As Safir, An Nahar, Al Diyar, June 3, 2016)