Pictured Ms Abir Ali, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Embassy of Lebanon in The Hague together with the Lebanese Trade Mission and guests.
On the occasion of the visit of a Lebanese Trade Mission, Ms Abir Ali, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Embassy of Lebanon in The Hague, in collaboration with NCH (Netherlands Council for Trade Promotion) hosted a networking event at her residence in Wassenaar.
The event held on May 10 was an opportunity for Lebanese and Dutch businesspeople to get together and consider various ways to enhance business between Lebanon and the Netherlands. The commercial team of the Dutch Embassy in Lebanon was also present at the event showing its support to the initiative started by Ms Ali couple of years ago. In fact, the Lebanese delegation is coming every year guided by Ms Ali, growing in numbers of participants also in tangible results. The Lebanese delegation featured companies from Agriculture, Food & Beverages, packaging, commercial law, engineering, Pharmaceuticals, garments and other sectors.
Ms Abir Ali cordially welcomed the guest to this important annual event. She stated she has just returned from Lebanon a day before the event; she was there in connection with the visit on Tuesday, May 3 by H.E. Prime Minister Mark Rutte and H.E. Ms Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands. Ms Ali described the discussions between Prime Minister Rutte and his Lebanese counterpart H.E. Mr Tammam Salam as excellent and setting the way towards future cooperation. She thanked the Netherlands for their continuous support to Lebanon during the trying times that Lebanon and the region have been passing through.
In her speech, Ms Ali made a special mention of the Lebanese Diaspora Energy Conference organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of Lebanon attended by over 1000 participants of Lebanese origins who returned home from all over the world to develop a valuable cultural and social connection with their homeland. The meeting took place from 5-7 May 2016 at the Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand in Beirut, Lebanon.
There were delegates from the four corners of the globe; from the Gulf States, but also from Trinidad & Tobago in the Caribbean which has a sizeable Lebanese community. The conference aimed at promoting the positive image of Lebanon around the world. Lebanese businesspeople are to be found all over the world mostly dedicated to business and in general considered as a progressive community. The Lebanese international conference is a demonstration of Lebanese resilience.
Moreover, Ms Ali spoke with proud confidence and referred to the strength of the Lebanese people, their knowledge and professional approach, their flexibility and capability to adjust to all business environments. She added that Lebanese businessmen are present in many parts of the world especially the Gulf, Iraq, Africa and Eastern Europe. She invited the Dutch Business community to explore the opportunities in Lebanon and the business connections Lebanese have with neighbouring countries; Lebanon represents a gateway to wider markets. Hence, Abir Ali called for an increase in trade between the two nations and more cooperation.
The speaker after Ms Ali was Mr Mohammad Sinno, president of the Lebanese Dutch Business Association; he invited the Dutch to team up with the Lebanese especially in the post-crisis in Syria since Lebanese businesses will be directly involved in the reconstruction of Syria once the crisis comes to an end. In a nice way, he prevented the audience to relies on news media as the only source of information. Instead, he invited Dutch business people to visit Lebanon to discover the many opportunities.
For his part, Mr Salim Rabbani, Chairman of the MENA Business Council, highlighted the importance of contact between people to people and between business to business as the best way for cooperation to grow and to create new business opportunities.
The Lebanese residence was full and the perfect weather was kind enough to host the event on the lawns of the residence as well as indoor. Authentic Lebanese delicious food with choices to suit everyone was served continuously. It has been a great networking event.
