imported 2024-03-17 17:43:07
The most serious foreign policy challenge facing both the government and the economy is another war with Israel. All political parties, including Hezbollah, are committed to developing the nation’s military forces. But all also agree that until a national army is ready, Hezbollah’s armed groups may again be relied upon in the event of an Israeli attack.
Mohamed Chatah, Advisor to the Prime Minister Saad Hariri, best summarizes how Lebanon plans to navigate toward the future: “Politics in the Middle East is turbulent and Lebanon is often pulled in all sorts of directions. Because Lebanon is very diverse, this results in a noisy and often difficult democracy that we have to navigate through without abandoning our principles.”
A tectonic development in Lebanon’s political history began with the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005. This resulted in huge demonstrations on March 8 (Hezbollah and its allies) and counter-demonstrations on March 14, 2005.
Lebanon is a not quite tiny, but definitely a small country nestled along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. About the same size as Jamaica, and ten percent less than Qatar, its total area of 10,400 km2 ranks it 166th on size out of 223 of the countries of the world.
Largest power generation companies in Lebanon are EDL and others. Electricité du Liban produced in 2008 10,221 million kWh. 867 million kWh were purchased and the electricity network consumption in Lebanon amounted to 12,227 million kWh. The electric power consumption rose in 2009 to 13,137 million kWh, according to a World Bank report. The report also says that the demand for electricity is very likely to reach more than 4,000 MW by 2015. This would require an additional 1,500 MW of new capacity.
The industry of Lebanon is one of the main economic sectors and greatly contributes to the financial development of Lebanon.
Lebanese industry sector stands for 19,7% of the country`s GDP. As for the employment, the industry employs 13,8% of the Lebanese workforce. The leading companies of Lebanese industry can be found in the paper/cardboard, plastics, marble, cement, wood and textile sector.
Lebanese government owns two networks which are operated by Orascom Telecom (Egypt) and Zain (Kuwait) for a management fee.
View the top Real Estate Management Companies in Lebanon. According to the Bank Audi Research, the activities in the Lebanese real estate sector are slowing down in 2012 due to the ongoing domestic political strife and regional instability. The total value of real estate transactions grew by 6.7% in 2011; the January – April 2012 period recorded 4% y-o-y increase in comparison with the same period in 2011. These figures are very low compared to the 32% annual growth which was recorded since the 2005 real estate boom in Lebanon.
View the largest airlines in Lebanon.
The roots of Lebanese education are very old and the powerful education system and institutions in Lebanon are famous not only regionally but globally. As an example can serve the Lebanese American University (LAU), which foundation dates back to the early 19th Century. Lebanon has been always well-known for its high quality institutions of higher education – universities. Therefore, as Dr. Joseph Jabbra, President of LAU, comments: “Parents have been known to say to their kids ‘money comes and goes’, ‘property comes and goes’, but there´s one thing that no one can take away from you and that´s education.” He also claims that Lebanon has always been the first; Lebanon has always had the cutting edge of education. One of the Lebanese education institutions which constantly seeks innovation is Ecole Supérieure des Affaires (ESA), an elite university which offers superior postgraduate education.
