The Lebanese Business leaders association hosted an international delegation comprising the Ambassador of the European Union to Lebanon, Mr. Ralph Tarraf,

the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and UN Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon Ms. Najat Rushdi, along with Ms. Zina Khoury and Mrs. Mona Couzi of the World Bank and Mr. Jaap Van Deiggel. Coordinator for the Lebanon Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Framework (3RF).

During a working lunch organized by the association in honor of the international delegation, attended by, in addition to Mr. Nicolas Boukather (President RDCL) , Ms. Asmahan El-Zein (co-Chair 3RF), Mrs Nadine Khoury (President Qoot) and Mr. Danny Abboud (VP ALI), the challenges facing the private sector in Lebanon in light of the current crisis were raised. It also deep dived the cooperation between the international community and the private sector within the framework of the reform, recovery and reconstruction plan for Lebanon (3RF).

Mr. Nicolas Boukhater, welcomed the delegation, explaining the vision of the business leaders association in Lebanon, and the attendees raised the importance of activating the public-private partnership law, the importance of accelerating the steps that must be taken urgently on the subject of the public procurement law, the anti-corruption law and e-governance in the public sector and the importance of activating the loan allocated for public transport and the urgency of applying and activating these and other laws.

The private sector has also re-emphasized the risks it faces today, with regard to hyperinflation, brain drain, a growing illegal parallel economy, lack of basic infrastructure that drains productivity, and the oversized public sector compared to the private sector.

The two parties agreed to work closely on these topics, along with other topics related to innovation, export, governance and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The private sector also suggested identifying Lebanon’s economic strengths specifically in the sectors of digital services and “services in general”, industry, agriculture and re-branding Lebanon for exports. Moreover, discussions took place on important enabling factors that have to be addressed to enable the Lebanese companies to export Lebanese products and services to the European Union markets.

Source: National News Agency