Political cleavages frustrate investments in Tripoli and Lebanon

French Ambassador to Lebanon, Emanuel Bonn, said that government paralysis has contributed to the halt of various new projects supported by the French Agency for Development, particularly those related to the building of schools. Bonn, who was speaking during a visit last week to the North governor, Judge Ramzi Nohra, referred to the freezing of the USD46 million loan for funding the construction of a network of schools across Lebanon. In the same vein, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Tripoli and the North, Tawfic Dabbussi, said in an address to his official guests: “We do not need financial assistance or donations; we want partnerships in undertakings that create new jobs and help us realize the role required by us in the region.” His words came during his inauguration yesterday of the BUU institution devoted to building the capacities of the vital economic and productive sectors in Tripoli. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, January 19, 2016)