As some of you might already know, I was invited to attend the Lebanon Business Roundtable organized by The Economist group. This is how The Economist describes this event:
Economist Conferences’ Lebanon Business Roundtable is your opportunity to engage in debate on the future of the country’s business and investment climate, at this critical time.
Join Prime Minister Saad Hariri and senior ministers from the Government of Lebanon alongside business leaders and experts from The Economist Group, for a full and frank discussion of the economic and business outlook for Lebanon.
Is there a specific topic you’d like me to discuss should I get the chance? Please put your suggestions in the comments.
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Hello, my name is Mustapha and I've been blogging about Lebanese society, business and politics since February 2005.
-Will there be peace long enough so that this gov’t invests in Information Technology & related infrastructure?
-If we are planning to become the Regional Hub again, the gov’t must invest in:
-E-government with ENGLISH/FRENCH/Arabic sites
-E-banking & safe e-transactions
-Setting up business must be inexpensive and should take less than two days. All online preferably.
To become the Hong Kong of the region, there must be massive collaboration with that exemplary city.
-DO NOT temper with VAT.
-What is planning behind the Free Trade Zones & should we be concerned with cheap Turkish and Syrian goods flooding the market?
Yes,
1-Infrastructure and transportation projects such as railway or rapid bus transit. the traffic is unbearable, the pollution is stifling, the emissions are horrible in beirut/lebanon
2- more green spaces, less concrete sprawl
Thanks for your suggestions guys, I’ll see If I get the chance to discuss this. But people in the conference seem to be very aware of problems with Infrastructure, Transport & DSL.