Lebanese Ministry of Information
Prime Minister, Dr. Hassan Diab chaired today at the Grand Serail a Cabinet session.
Minister of Information Manal Abdel Samad delivered the following statement after the session:
At the outset of the session, PM Diab deplored “the absence of some forces from the national dialogue that the President of the Republic called for due to various considerations”.
He added: “The country is not doing well. Therefore, dialogue is a necessity, and there should be no rupture between the Lebanese. The country cannot stand this division. Political divergence is permitted, and opposition is required, provided, at least, that dialogue prevails, because in the absence of dialogue around the table and in closed rooms, the dialogue will move to the street, which poses a great danger to the country.”
“The country is going through a major crisis. The solutions to the dollar price crisis are all colliding with a different reality, and the results are not positive so far. This is the responsibility of the Central Bank of Lebanon which determines how to tackle the dollar’s rise. The Central Bank is responsible for preserving the Lebanese pound’s exchange rate.
However, we must follow up on this issue, which threatens social stability and civil peace”, PM Diab added.
The Prime Minister stressed on the importance of the financial situation being a priority, not only for the government, but also for every official, no matter his position, stating that ” We should show complete clarity in dealing with this issue.”
He added: “If the Central Bank is unable to tackle the crisis of the high dollar exchange rate, it should explain the underlying reasons, who is preventing it from doing us, who is interfering, and who is speculating. It is not permissible to deal with this issue coldly, as if everything was fine.”
As for the anti-corruption file, PM Diab stressed on the necessity of direct implementation of the national anti-corruption strategy approved on May 12th.
“Initially, we made all the preparations with His Excellency the Minister of State for Administrative Development to start implementing the plan. We agreed with the United Nations to support the implementation of the strategy, which includes 7 axes: finalizing and activating legislations; reforming public employment systems and public procurement; strengthening the independence and work of the judiciary and supervisory bodies; activating community participation; and increasing the resilience of every state department against the risks of corruption in the future”, Diab added.
PM Diab stressed on the need for a real workshop that begins by forming executive teams that focus on a set of specific reformative steps, including, but not limited to, ensuring a comprehensive implementation of the access to information Act, following up on previously taken measures in line with the new strategy, as well as, perhaps most importantly, appointing and activating the national anti-corruption commission within the relevant legal time limits.
Subsequently, the Minister of Finance made an intervention regarding the financial procedures aiming at controlling the US dollar exchange rate, indicating that a crisis cell meeting will be held tomorrow morning.
The Cabinet highlighted the importance of keeping up with this issue, while stressing that some were promoting fake US dollar prices, adding that the approved pricing mechanism was still in place. The Council of Ministers has also indicated that the Central Bank of Lebanon will launch tomorrow the official electronic currency trading platform for money changers.
Then, the Minister of Environment presented the developments of the road map 2020-2025 for Integrated Solid Waste Management.
Afterwards, the Minister of Agriculture exposed the 2021-2025 strategic framework for the agricultural and food sector in Lebanon, aiming at facing the current economic and financial crises. The framework will constitute the basis for ensuring food security and transforming the Lebanese economy from a rentier economy to a productive one. This was reflected by the government in its economic recovery plan.
The Cabinet also listened to a presentation by the Economic and Social Council on urgent measures to assist in restarting businesses.
The Cabinet approved the following decisions:
1- The need to take into account the quality freight certificates for imported oil derivatives, issued by international monitoring companies accredited by the loading authority.
2- The need to take representative samples from oil derivatives shipments upon arrival in Lebanese waters by control companies officially accredited by the Ministry of Energy and Water, and send them to “BUREAU VERITAS” laboratories in Dubai – United Arab Emirates to conduct the necessary laboratory analyzes as per the technical principles, provided that the expenses and laboratory analysis fees are fully borne by importers.
3- The need to allow the Ministry of Energy / Oil Installations in Tripoli and Zahrani to contract with an attorney who is expert in oil installations legal affairs to follow up on and supervise their files regarding all relevant legal aspects, and to contract with 6 chemical specialists for a period of six months, while giving preference in contracting to those who have successfully passed the relevant Civil Service Council examinations in this specialty.
A draft decree aimed at adopting digital distance learning for the academic year 2019-2020.
The Council of Ministers also decided the following:
1. Approving the request made by the Ministry of National Defense to sell five Hawker Hunter aircrafts and three Sikorsky helicopters, I addition to relevant spare parts and equipment by public auction at the relevant Department’s Directorate General affiliated with the Ministry of National Defense.
2. Requesting the Ministry of National Defense to prepare a specifications book for conducting a tender for the purchase of specialized firefighting helicopters.
The Council of Ministers decided to approve the termination of the lease contract for offices occupied by the National Investment Guarantee Corporation.
The Council has also decided to entrust the Ministers of Agriculture, Economy and Trade, Industry and Finance with the mission of elaborating a vision on international trade agreements and the possibility of amending some of their provisions in line with the exceptional circumstances of Lebanon, in addition to reporting outcomes to the Council of Ministers within a maximum period of 6 months.
The Council also decided to circulate to public administrations, public institutions, municipalities and Unions of Municipalities to suspend the overtime working hours for workers of all categories and ranks as of 1/7/2020 and instruct the relevant minister to prepare a list of the names of employees excluded from this circular, to be submitted to the Prime Minister for decision.
NNA
