We have met today with a delegation from Sudan headed by the Ambassador Hag Magid Mohammad Al Suwar, Secretary General of the Sudanese Working Abroad. The aim of the meeting was to exchange know-how on diaspora engagement and the programs in place to attract investments.

A delegation of the Fruits and Vegetables Exporters Association, under the chairmanship of Mr. Naim Khalil discussed with IDAL`s Chairman Eng. Nabil Itani the agricultural export subsidy mechanism through the "Exports` Maritime Bridge" approved lately by the Cabinet.
Engineer Itani declared that agricultural exports during the first five months of 2015 recorded a slight drop of only 2%, compared with the same period of 2014.

The Chairman of IDAL Eng. Nabil Itani met the Lebanese Ambassador in Mexico Hisham Hamdan. Both sides stressed the necessity of encouraging the partnership relations between Lebanon and Mexico, particularly by enhancing mutual investments between the two countries.

On July 1^st 2015, the Ministry of Telecommunications launched the “Lebanon 2020 Digital Telecom Vision”. This project, valued at over USD 600 million, is a 5 year plan which aims to revamp the telecom infrastructure in the country.

The project aims to make fiber-optic connectivity available throughout the country by the year 2020. The fiber optic network will connect directly to about 15,000 organizations and institutions. A second fiber-optic network will also directly connect to households and offices. This revamp of the internet network will result in an increase in the speed of internet connections from the current 8 megabits per second (Mb/s) to 100 Mb/s.

The project also aims to develop mobile services. It ensures that 4G services will be installed throughout the country in the next two and a half years, paving the way for the installation of 5G connections by 2020. To achieve this goal, the plan is to increase the number of transmission stations to reach 2,000 in the next 2 years, up from the 400 stations currently in place.

This project will also have the benefit of contributing to economic development, attracting FDI and creating job opportunities.