Lebanese Republic 
Meeting with the Association of Lebanese Industrialists
Minister of Economy and Trade Mansour Bteish met in presence of Director General Mrs. Alia Abbas a delegation of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists constituted of the President of the Association Fady Gemayel and the members Khalil Cherry, Omar Hallab, Sakher Azar, Ibrahim Mallah, Nazareth Sabounjian, Joyce Jammal and Talal Hijazi.
The President of the Association expressed his optimism especially that Minister Bteish has a long experience in the economic field”.
In this regard, he revealed the main challenges that the industry faces nowadays, saying that “although industrialists are confronted to many issues still, we possess great potentials such as the job opportunities and the number of beneficial parties like the workers, engineers, accountants, banks in addition to the cargo and packing companies, etc.” calling for “mutual respect and the principle of equality”. In addition, Gemayel shed the light on “the importance of the intensive energy industry and the need to address the issues of smuggling, high export costs and the illegal competition by the Syrian refugees.” To this end, the Association “submitted a 25 anti-dumping cases and elaborated an economic vision while stressing on the cooperation between the concerned ministries to put it into practice”.
On his part, Minister Bteish asserted that “the President of the Republic and the whole government are backing the productive economy”. He also reasserted his willingness “to recover the productive economy instead of a consequential one” stressing on “abiding by two norms: implementing the law and increasing the local production” in addition to “bolster dialog between workers and employers as well with concerned ministries and the government”. Bteish added that the three presidents are keen to boost and increase the local production” while making sure to “strengthen the industry and increase the competitiveness”.
Furthermore, Mrs. Abbas explained some of the practical actions applied by the Ministry and determined the responsibilities and powers related to some of the cases.
