Update November 2000: Lebanon

1. The public sector

In parallel with the efforts made by the governmental Agencies that are in charge of the various IT implementations (OMSAR, Central Bank, Ministries of economy, education, information…), a new Public entity has been created by the Council of Ministers. In its meeting of the 16^th of August 2000, it instated the National ICT Committee. Under the chairmanship of the Minister of Economy and Trade, Dr SAIDI, the Committee is composed of high-ranking officials from different public bodies:

• Ing. Ali NAHLE, Head of IT department at the Central Bank
• General Nabil MANSOUR, Head of the Military School
• Dr Issam ABDELKADER, Advisor to the Prime Minister
• Ing. Naji ANDRAOUS, Director General of equipment at MPT
• Ing. Ahmad OWEYDAT, Director General of maintenance at MPT
• Dr Raymond KHOURY, Head of the cooperation division at OMSAR
• Mr Fadi MUNLA, Director at the CDR
• Mr Kamal HAYEK, CEO of IDAL.

According to the text creating the National ICT Committee, many other technical committees could be formed in order to help the National Committee in his mission. Until now no such committees have been designated.

2. Professional associations, IT companies,NGOs…

The Professional Computer Association (PCA) continued its dynamic role during this quarter. It took the initiative of proposing and obtaining from the Government a reduction of the customs tariffs imposed on imported software and hardware. The average rate applicable to such material has dropped from around 20% to about 8%. According to reliable sources at the Ministry of finance cited in the press, the Government is considering a complete exoneration of software and hardware items from customs duties in the near future.

In cooperation with Promofair SAL <www.promofair.com.lb> and the DUBAI Trade Center, the PCA launched the seventh edition of TERMIUM (a regional IT exhibition) from the 19^th to the 24^th of September. The event was a great success despite the gloomy economic situation.

Many international organizations were present at this exhibition, offering high tech telecom solutions like shared and dedicated leased lines, IP over frame-relay technology via Permanent Virtual Circuits PVC allowing high speed end to end connections from 32 kbps to 2048 kbps.

Many of these international companies (PSINET, CISCO, MICROSOFT…) were presenting e-banking solutions to serve customers on a 24x7 basis, consisting of:

• Bills payments
• Money transfers from an account to another account
• Account inquiries and detailed statements viewing
• Wire transfer requests
• Simulations of different calculations for specific loans
• Business transactions over the Internet etc.

E-commerce solutions were also presented by local representatives of international companies relating to:

• Virtual storefront construction
• Real time payment transactions
• Credit card processing
• Multi-currency capabilities and speed to market etc.

3. Regional and International Organisations

Lebanon and the European Union ratified the Agreement concerning the establishment of a focal point for Euro-Mediterranean initiatives. Minister SAIDI and EU Ambassador to Lebanon, Dimitri KOURKOULAS held a joint press conference to announce the event on the 17^th of September. The focal point will contribute to the development of the new economy in Lebanon through actions of dissemination and awareness. The focal point will also constitute a convergence point for all possible Euro Med projects within the EUMEDIS initiative. As part of the Euro Med project, EUMEDIS is a regional plan aiming at linking the Mediterranean countries to the European Union through projects relating to information and communication technologies, e-commerce, health, tourism and cultural heritage.

The Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), a UN Agency based in Beirut, organized a series of events having regional dimension and relating to the IS. Three seminars were held during this quarter: one about the transportation network in the Arab region, another about the legal aspects in the IS and one about e-government.

4. Universities

The summer quarter is a period of recess for nearly all academic activities. However some projects were reported in the press as being ready for implementation as distance-learning projects. It is to be noted, in this respect, that the Arab Ministers of education held a conference in Beirut (mid september) to discuss a project for an Open Arab University to start operating in 2001. Further discussion was necessary to decide upon the location of this pan-Arab institution.