Cabinet convenes at Grand Serail

The Cabinet convened its weekly meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Thursday.

At the beginning of the session, PM Diab stated that “we are resuming our business cycle. Next week we will open the airport for private planes, and on July 1st, we will open the airport for passenger planes”.

Diab hoped that this will contribute to alleviating the economic crisis facing the country. The entire State must be ready to keep up with the life cycle’s restoration and possible tourist activity, although the cabinet has decided to open the airport with relatively limited operational capacity (around 10 percent).

PM Diab added: “We must have a plan to stimulate tourism and trade, and to monitor prices. However, the most important thing is security stability. Today, the country needs calm and security in order to benefit from the airport’s opening and send a positive signal to tourists”.

Afterwards, the Prime Minister made reference to H.E the President of the Republic’s invitation to a national dialogue to seek calm and preserve civil peace. He hoped that all political forces will participate in this dialogue, in the interest of the country.

Regarding the fight against corruption, PM Diab said: “I announced early this week the war on corruption. This must be our top priority. It is absolutely necessary to focus on transparency and non-malicious behavior. I asked the supervisory bodies to follow up thoroughly on this issue and to refrain from responding to any intervention, because I insist on the fact that the battle against corruption will spare no one. We are all engaged in the fight against corruption. Each minister in his own ministry, and ministries-related departments must ensure a daily follow-up. We must give incentives to regulatory bodies, and send them encouraging and competitive signals in order to stimulate the fight against corruption”.

As for Caesar's Act, we have taken stock at its implications and effects on Lebanon, and at how to deal with this Act. Ultimately, we seek Lebanon’s interest first and foremost, and we work on this basis.

Then, the Cabinet has discussed the meeting’s agenda.

The Minister of Agriculture has informed the Council of Ministers of the damages caused to Hermel district’s residents as a result of the fire, and the Prime Minister has mandated the High Relief Commission to coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture to survey the damage.

The Council of Ministers has taken the following decisions:

1- Establish the National Authority for Enforced Disappeared and Missing Persons.

2- Mandate the High Relief Commission to provide vaccines to cope with the outbreak of streptococcal dermatitis in cows and transfer the necessary credit.

3- Approve a draft law aimed at opening additional credit line in the 2020 general budget, in the budget of the Ministry of Economy and Trade and an additional credit line in the budget of the General directorate of Cereals And Sugar beets, amounting to 14 billion Lebanese pounds, in order to pay compensation to wheat and barley farmers for the years 2018 and 2019.

4- Agree on duly notifying relevant authorities of the contract signed between the Ministry of Telecommunications, the General Directorate for Investment and Maintenance, and the Management and Investment Authority for the facilities and equipment of the former Radio Orient or Ogero on 31/12/2019 and approved by the third chamber at the Court of Accounts, according to Decision No. 2580/2019.

5- Approve, on an exceptional basis, the request of the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities to issue one million biometric residency cards by mutual consent agreement on the basis of determining the price of the card in the national currency (about 4,000 LBP) from the Ministry of Interior’s budget reserve for 2020.

6- Assign the Minister of Telecommunications and the General Directorate of Posts to prepare a draft specifications for launching a global bid to outsource the postal sector after the approval of the Council of Ministers, and to launch the tender within a maximum period of 3 months.

7-a) Request the Minister of Energy and Water, within a maximum period of one month, to survey countries that want to deal with the Lebanese state to purchase fuel (fuel oil and gas oil) and inform the Council of Ministers of the survey’s results through the adoption of direct negotiations mechanism without any mediator.

b) Amend Decision No. 7/2020 of 19/3/2020 so that the deal be concluded through an international tender in which national and international oil companies participate.

c) Allow oil facilities, within a deadline of August 31, 2020, to use the SPOT cargo mechanism to quickly secure the necessary quantities of petroleum derivatives for the local market (petrol and diesel) until the successful tenders are duly finalized.

8- Approve the Ministry of Education and Higher Education’s proposal to allow the General Directorate for Vocational and Technical Education, the Lebanese University and higher education institutions to open vocational schools, institutes, and higher education institutions as of June 22, 2020 to complete the current academic year, for all years and stages, and organize exams in traditional ways or ways deemed appropriate by relevant institutions, while observing health and preventive measures.