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First National Stakeholder Workshop: National Green Export Review for Lebanon


06 - 07 December 2016
Beirut
, Lebanon

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The First National Stakeholder Workshop of Lebanon’s NGER took place on 6 and 7 December 2016 in Beirut. The workshop, jointly organized by the Lebanese Cleaner Production Center (LCPC), Lebanon’s Ministry of Economy and Trade (MoET) and UNCTAD brought together representatives from government, private sector, academia and civil society to collectively review a range of promising green sectors.

The workshop was opened by HE Alain Hakim, Minister of Economy and Trade, and HE Hussein El Hajj Hassan, Minister of Industry. Both stressed the importance of industrial sector in Lebanon’s economy and the need to increase green exports from the sector for jobs growth and sustainable development. They highlighted the need to enhance industrial competitiveness, particularly among SMEs that make up over 90 percent of Lebanese firms, and to address non-tariff measures now prevalent in major export markets.

Other speakers in the opening session, including Dr Bassam Frenn, Director General of the Industrial Research Institute and Dr Ali Yaacoub, Director of the Lebanese Cleaner Production Center, reiterated these perspectives and called upon participants to contribute to finding the best way forward for enhancing green exports.

During the workshop, participants will explore approaches to increase value added and boost production and exports of selected green goods and services. Presentations by the private sector covered diverse products and sectors including recycled paper products, geothermal energy services, waste to energy conversion technologies and services and recycling machinery. Other renewable energy technologies were also presented as a key means to enable firms to increase their production efficiencies. Participants also emphasized that Lebanon competitively produces a wide variety of green foods and beverages, including many natural and organic products, while acknowledging that it was desirable for Lebanon’s NGER to focus on industrial products and services and possibilities for their export.

A special session of the workshop was dedicated to exploring ways to advance the development of the ecotourism sector.  Mr Issam Pharoan, Special Advisor to the Ministry of Tourism argued that while considerable attention is placed on SMEs in the manufacturing and industrial sectors, most of which are located in the Greater Beirut and other urban areas, greater attention and support is urgently needed in rural communities where ecotourism has strong yet untapped potential to generate new jobs and income. Participants strongly supported that the NGER explore opportunities for developing ecotourism in various forms such as agro-tourism, cultural tourism, nature tourism and recreational tourism.

As a result of the workshop, stakeholders selected recycled paper products, renewable energy technologies and services and ecotourism as the priority green sectors that will be further analyzed and supported in the framework of the NGER. One or two specific renewable energy technologies (or perhaps other green products) will be selected by the Ministry of Economy and Trade as the focus of the project. National Experts will then begin research and a consultation process with national stakeholders in preparation for the NGER’s Second National Stakeholder Workshop to be convened in mid-2017. 

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Co-organizer(s):
Lebanon Ministry of Economy and Trade, Lebanese Cleaner Production Centre
Sponsor / funding:
United Nations Development Account

languages
Language(s)
English  |    
Related Site:

TED branch, home page
Trade and Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development.
http://unctad.org/topic/trade-and-environment

UNCTAD/DITC/TED National Green Export Reviews
http://unctad.org/en/Pages/DITC/Trade-and-Environment/Green%20Economy/National-Green-Export-Review.aspx

Contact

Mr. Robert Hamwey Robert.hamwey@unctad.org