President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, asserted on Tuesday that “We must all mobilize to rise from the bottom of the abyss in which we are, as a result of the killing of production in our economy. The industrial sector is at the forefront of the sectors we rely on for recovery”.

The President also hoped that “There will be a boom in industrial products, which would contribute to the return of prosperity”, and noted that the agreement with the International Monetary Fund would push forward in this direction. President Aoun revealed that the train of reforms would start in order to start implementing the agreement where the economic cycle returns to rotation again.

Moreover, the President emphasized the importance of implementing the Capitol Control Law, in addition to forensic audit, recalling the obstacles that were placed in their way and how he worked to overcome them. President Aoun revealed that if they had been adopted nearly two years ago, we would have been better than the current situation, and stressed that despair has no place in his thinking.

“For the remainder of the Presidential term, let no one consider that I will stop working for recovery,” the President said.

President Aoun’s positions came while receiving Industry Minister, George Boujikian, and a delegation of members of the new board of directors of the Association of Industrialists headed by Salim Zeenny.

“I and the new president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists, Salim Zeenny, and the members of the board of directors are honored to visit you Mr. President, in a visit which comes after the association assumed new term," Boujikian said.

He added: "You know, Mr. President, a good number of industrial colleagues who have served the association for many years. The new president, Mr. Salim Zeenny, is famous and well-known in the industrial world.

"We meet in a pioneering experience of close cooperation between the ministry and the association in order to achieve the demands of the industrialists. We will continue with the new council in the same approach with the support of His Excellency the President, the Prime Minister and other fellow ministers, because a number of ministries are concerned with achieving industrial demands.

"Industry is the sector of the future, constantly developing, providing better conditions, and ensuring a work environment that meets the expectations of the new generations coming to the labor market, which allows young people to find their place and find opportunities and progress.

"The industrial sector has proven in the past few years that it is capable of interacting with new industries that the Lebanese desperately need, for example, the coronavirus sterilizers and protective medical kits. And I give you another example, Mr. President, with the exacerbation of the economic crisis and the depreciation of the Lebanese pound; the industrialists doubled their production, and secured the local market needs and products that Lebanon used to import. This led to reducing the trade balance deficit and reducing the value of imports from about twenty billion dollars to eleven billion dollars, in addition to increasing exports.

"Your Excellency, the industry in Lebanon is the only sector that expanded in the recent economic crisis despite the presence of many obstacles in front of it, and it is the sector least affected by the repercussions of this crisis. We at the Ministry of Industry directed the industrialists, facilitated granting them industrial licenses, and reduced competition. We have also taken many deterrent, protective and motivating decisions to adopt specifications and standards.

"We are here to take your directions and thank you for your support of a promising productive sector that contributes to economic advancement”.

For his part, the President of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists thanked President Aoun for his reception.

Zeenny said: “We have hope for you, Mr. President, to embrace and support the Lebanese industry, which has contributed to replacing imports with local manufacturing. This was our battle for steadfastness in the past few years. And we will continue it in order to advance all sectors, because industry is the second largest employer in Lebanon after the Lebanese state, and it opens new job opportunities and contributes to the introduction of hard currency into Lebanon”.

“We hope, with all laws that we will reach to maintain this trend, because any defect would cause us to lose the best people who contribute to employment in Lebanon. We are rooted in this country and we will not carry our burdens and leave Lebanon. We will stay here for reconstruction country with your support,” Zeenny continued.

“The most important thing that contributes to our steadfastness is addressing the cost of production, as a result of the high prices of fuels in the global markets. We hope that the process of importing it directly from the industrialists will be adopted, with the cancellation of all fees that burden the industrialists with many burdens, even for a year or two. We do not want subsidies, but we want to import fuels at their real price,” Zeenny concluded.

The President called for facilitating the acquisition of common land from the state in order to build a headquarters for the Industrialists’ Association, “Which would be a beacon to the Lebanese economy”.

President Aoun welcomed the attendees and stressed the importance of his personal attachment to the productive economy.

The President said: “This is a conviction I have, I have always talked about it, and I took the initiative to do so, since I was in exile. The productive economy is very important, because the lira is never supported by debt, but by production. We have paid a heavy price as a result of killing production, as the balance of payments has become very bad, and this is what led to the negative result we reached, in addition to the rampant corruption in the staff of the administration”.

“Today, we have nothing that would advance our economy except production, especially industrial production. We have allowed the import of fuels directly to industrialists, and we have designated a special warehouse for the matter,” President Aoun added.

The President also stressed that work is ongoing with everyone, in order to achieve recovery.