Four members of the Socialist Bloc in the European Parliament were in Lebanon this week for a two-day visit coming from Syria. The delegation held meetings with a number of Lebanese officials including President Emil Lahhoud, Prime Minister Salim Al-Hoss and a number of ministers.
The delegation also visited the UNIFIL's headquarters in Naqoura and discussed with Timor Goksel, UNIFIL's spokesman, the situation of the peacekeeping troops and its continuing mission in light of the daily Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon.
During their visit, the European delegation also addressed the Euro-Med partnership agreement with Lebanon. Finance Minister George Qorom, during a meeting with the delegation, called on the European Union to help modernize the country's system of taxation and custom duties. He added the EU is willing to assist Lebanon in coordination with international organizations like the IMF. The Finance Minister also asked EU parliamentarians to encourage European investments in Lebanon.
The EU has been negotiating with Lebanon the signing of the Euro-Med partnership agreement but one of the main stumbling blocs on the EU side is Lebanon's fiscal policy and its reliance on custom duties to generate government revenues.
In another European activity in Lebanon this week, a delegation of the Middle East Department at the European Investment Bank held talks in the country with President Emil Lahhoud and Deputy House Speaker Elie Al-Firzli. Discussions centered on a number of European loans dedicated to Lebanon and draft laws related to them.
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Nasser Al-Saiidi held discussions with a delegation from the Canadian-Lebanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Quebec headed by the chamber's vice president Elie John Shaaib, who is of Lebanese origin.
The meeting focused on the possibilities of cooperation between Lebanon and Canada, particularly Quebec, and ways through which Canadian companies can take part in investment projects in Lebanon. Minister Saiidi said Lebanon offers great investment opportunities that would enable Canadian firms to participate in a number of public sector projects.
Saiidi added a number of Canadian companies are working in Lebanon in the field of post and also in other fields. The Lebanese Minister said what is encouraging Canadian companies to invest in Lebanon is the good investment atmosphere here.
Minister of Energy, Water, and Electricity Suleiman Traboulsi held talks earlier this week with a World Bank delegate who heads the privatization sector in the bank. Discussions centered on the situation of the water and electricity sectors in Lebanon. The delegate also inspected ways through which the bank can help in boosting the two sectors.
During his visit to Lebanon, the World Bank expert also held meetings with a number of Lebanese officials and economic figures aimed at inspecting the situation of the services sectors in Lebanon.
Minister of Post and Telecommunications earlier this week opened the 89th board meeting of the Arab Satellite Communications Corporation, Arab Sat. The sessions, held at the Marriott Hotel in Beirut, were concluded today.
During the opening, Minister Naaman said the launching of satellite 3/1 by Arab Sat means the entrance of this pioneer Arab institution to the 21st century. He expressed comfort at such a technological advancement. He also revealed that the next general assembly meeting will be held during the end of May in Khartoum, Sudan.
Among the participants in the session were representatives of nine Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, and Lebanon. During their different meetings, they discussed the formation of a number of joint technical, financial and administrative committees. The experts also studied the institution's trade plan for the year 1999 and its marketing services.
The committee for the Tourism Cooperation Accord signed between Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan held a meeting in Beirut attended by the tourism ministers of the three countries.
The meeting recommended that a specialized team be formed under the name of "Team 2000" comprising representatives from the three countries. The team will be entitled to develop and activate joint tourism activities through formulating joint tourism programs in preparation for the third millenium.
The meeting called on all Arab governments to provide necessary facilities to ensure tourism exchange between the Arab countries. The recommendations also stressed the importance of unifying joint efforts in the fields of cultural-tourism awareness.
Lebanese Internal Security Forces are stepping up measures to control traffic irregularities. Some 1,000 traffic policemen were deployed on the streets setting up surprise check points around the country to stop motorists breaking the law and inspecting their papers. This is the first nation-wide campaign to regulate traffic congestion and haul in law-breakers in the country.
Drivers who have not paid their mecanique fees could face heavy fines or even have their licenses temporarily confiscated. Cars whose signals and brake lights were out of order were also stopped.
The Internal Security Forces traffic department said the largest number of violators included speeding motorists and drivers without licenses, mecanique fees, and fire extinguishers. The department also revealed to reporters traffic patrols will be stepped up during the night to clampdown on speeding motorists. Speeding, which claimed the lives of more than 350 people last year, is the major cause of road accidents in Lebanon.
The campaign will be followed by a qualitative step in curbing traffic violators that will include the installation of speed detectors and the adoption of devices for measuring blood-alcohol levels.
A national campaign to vaccinate around 350,000 children against polio was launched earlier this month in a joint effort by the Health Ministry, the World Health Organization, the UN Children's Fund, the Rotary Foundation and a number of non-governmental organizations in the country.
The campaign will run in two stages through health and community centers across the country. The first began on March 13 and continued until the 18th of this month for the initial vaccination. Children will later receive their booster between April 17 and 22.
The campaign targets children under five. Health Minister Karam Karam himself administered polio vaccines to a number of children at the Beirut Public Hospital in Karantina. Conducted annually for the past five years, the campaign aims at eradicating the disease by the year 2000.
Greenpeace activists earlier this week uncovered that three companies were expanding Beirut Port by "reclaiming" land with contaminated waste. The activity is an illegal sea dumping operation that violates the spirit of the regional Barcelona Convention, a Greenpeace statement stressed.
After alarming the Environment Ministry, the Greenpeace Mediterranean office in Beirut deplored the fact that the authorities were downplaying the toxicity of the Karantina waste dump, which two Spanish companies and one Lebanese are using to reclaim land in Beirut Port.
The Environment Ministry said in a statement that the waste in the reclaimed coastal site in Beirut port would not pollute the Mediterranean because a wall of rocks and sand contained it. Ministry expert Hanna Bou Habib, after viewing the site two days ago and not by sampling it, stressed that the waste was not toxic because much of its organic waste content had lost its toxicity with time.
"It is unbelievable that Ministry of Environment ignored the basic elements of scientific research and analysis," said Ghassan Geara, Greenpeace Mediterranean campaigner in Lebanon. "Rocks, sand and even the best available plastic sheeting will never prevent leachate containing toxic heavy metals and organic chemicals from polluting the sea. Non-toxic organic waste may partly decompose with time, but toxic heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) will not. This is a scientific fact," he added.
Greenpeace revealed that the Spanish firms Entrecanales and Cubierts as well as the Lebanese firm Samir Cheddad SAL had illegally transferred waste from the Karantina dump last year to Mount Lebanon to get rid of this problem at the lowest coast possible. But Greenpeace uncovered this scandal and forced them to return the waste to Beirut Port. Now they are again committing an environmental crime by polluting the sea, the statement added.
The Karantina dump consists of household waste and hazardous waste from hospitals and industries dumped there during the civil war as well as toxic ash from the waste incinerator in Karantina. It also includes toxic waste imported illegally from Italy in 1987. The dump was closed in 1991 to make room for the Beirut Port expansion.
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