Lebanese Ministry of Information
Minister of Information, Dr. Manal Abdel Samad Najd, deemed Sunday that “keeping pace with the measures taken at the airport, and before that in the country of departure, showed great discipline and organization.”
Speaking from Beirut Airport this morning, where the concerned cabinet ministers joined the Prime Minister in an inspection tour of the Airport sections to oversee the preparations underway for the return of the Lebanese from abroad, Abdel Samad pointed to the important and proper division and distribution of roles. “It is necessary for the media to shed light on these points, because they will constitute a crossroad between choosing to return and staying abroad,” she said, noting that “whether these measures are doubted or not depends on the way the information is communicated to the public.”
Abdel Samad stressed that “awareness is very essential and required from returning expatriates and those close to them, i.e. their family members, friends, people around them and citizens of their region, and it is necessary to have awareness of the ways to deal with each other, as it must always be kept in mind that we have to act as if we have the disease, and in turn, the person we deal with is also infected.” She reiterated the need to adhere to the declared mechanism in this respect.
Abdel Samad expressed “deep gratitude for the great leadership of the army that cooperated with us in the awareness campaign,” and also thanked “the media, from Lebanon TV to the National News Agency, who accompanied us at the Airport, as well as the various media outlets and their significant role in conveying the correct and accurate information, so that we can reassure people in terms of extreme care and awareness, and the need to take maximum degrees of prudence, strictness and discipline, in order for us to pass this stage.”
“The step that we are implementing today with the arrival of four planes from several countries will be a success test, and will encourage more arrivals in the coming days…Yet, in the event that the measures are not well implemented, we will be doing unfairness to those who wish to return,” Abdel Samad emphasized. She expressed belief that the measures adopted by the government are strict enough, in the hope that there will be discipline from the people involved.
The Information Minister hailed the huge efforts undertaken by the Interior and Health Ministries, the security forces, the municipalities and their unions within their scope, and the important role of the media in continuing to spread the necessary awareness.
