Lebanese Republic 
Minister Activities today 05-3-2019
Minister of Economy and Trade Mansour Bteish met this morning with the UN Resident Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in Lebanon, Philippe Lazzarini, in an acquaintance visit.
Lazzarini explained his role in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs aiming to support Lebanon and its security stability; stating that the agency is active in the field of development in an attempt to address the Syrian crisis’ spillovers on Lebanon and boost the socio-economic development.
Moreover, Lazzarini touched upon the CEDRE Conference and the future aspirations in terms of implementing its decisions through reforms and determining its priorities as well as the importance of the sustainable development goals for 2030; serving one interest: Lebanon’s stability and growth.
On his turn, Minister Bteish revealed his future economic aspirations in terms of addressing the public budget’ deficit, finding solutions for the main reasons causing electricity shortages, tax evasion and trade deficit while promoting tourism and fighting against corruption. Minister Bteish emphasized that he will exert all his efforts to boost the lebanese economy through creating a business-friendly environment, especially that Ministry of Economy and Trade is an important ministry having interest in developing the economic vision for a stable Lebanon in line with the global developments.
Minister Bteish also met with a delegation of the Lebanese Bakeries Syndicate constituted of Kazem Ibrahim, Tony Seif, Riyad El Sayed, Ali Ibrahim and Tarek El Mir. Discussions considered the conditions of the baking industry as well as the problems that the bakeries owners are facing.
At the end of the meeting, Kazem Ibrahim spoke in the name of the delegation stating “we submitted our rightful demands to his Excellency in terms of the following:
- The health card imposed by Ministry of Public Health whereof we claim its validity date to last for a period of one year as was such, a long time ago;
- The value -added tax (TVA): we used to pay this tax and recover it within three months. However, Minister of Finance informed us nowadays that the tax recovery is done within one year, yet the bakeries owners cannot bear this burden because they are producing goods that prices cannot be adjusted and we cannot bear it any longer. Therefore, we wish to address this issue as soon as possible.
- The work permits for the bakeries workers: Syrians who work in the sector of agriculture and construction are working without work permits while the Syrians working in bakeries are obliged to obtain work permits; the thing that entails unexpected and additional financial burdens for the bakeries owners regarding the loaf of bread cost. Consequently, we call upon treating Syrian workers in the bakeries like the Egyptians.
- The certificates issued by the Industry Department are related to a health certificate submitted to all the bakeries workers; which leads to increase the costs, without mentioning that financial burdens are calculated in the loaf of bread price hindering us from taking action. However, we cannot continue like this.
At the end, Ibrahim concluded: “we discussed all these important issues occurring to the baking industry with His Excellency because he is the concerned person entitled to address them. His Excellency was very understanding to our rightful and just demands. He also promised to follow up on these issues with the concerned ministries”.
For his part, Minister Bteish stressed to the delegation his keenness for this sector, stating that he will review all their demands, convey some of them to the concerned ministers while having recourse to the public interest in approaching all the demands”.
