IDAL sponsored the Lebanese pavilion at the Salon International de l`Alimentation SIAL, which was held inFrancebetween 21 and 25 October 2012. This exhibition was attended by 6,000 companies from more than 100 countries around the world.

The Lebanese pavilion was inaugurated in the presence of the Lebanese Agriculture Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan, Chairman of IDAL Eng. Nabil Itani, Lebanese Ambassador to France Boutros Assaker and a number of Lebanese agro food industrialists.

The Chairman and General Manager of IDAL Eng. Nabil Itani stated that the North of Lebanon abounds promising investment opportunities and potentials in many economic sectors, indicating that this region is considered to be the most beneficiary from IDAL’s agricultural support programs.

Itani, accompanied by Secretary of Finance in Tripoli`s Chamber of Commerce Mr. Toufic Dabboussi, has toured several projects in the North , including projects that have benefited from the incentives and facilities provided by Investment Law No. 360 aiming at encouraging investments to Lebanon. The tour also included olive presses and olive oil packaging factories.

IDAL and ESCWA inaugurated the “National Training Workshop on FDI Computation” held at the Crown Plaza Hotel, in the presence of delegates from Lebanese ministries, official institutions and Chambers of Commerce as well as banks.

Mr. Abdullah Dardari, Director of Development and Globalization in the ESCWA, stressed on the importance of FDI statistics in the investment policy, their impact on the economy in general, and on the growth rates in particular. He stated that the Arab region receives the least investment rates in the world, with a maximum ratio of 20 percent of the national income for some Arab economies, while the rates recorded in China, for instance, are about 40 percent. 

IDAL organized a workshop on "Supporting Innovative Start-ups in Lebanon" at the Grand Serail under the auspices of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, represented by the Minister of State for Parliament affairs Marwan Kheireddine.

The aim of this workshop is to highlight the national government commitment to support start-ups, in line with its vision to foster innovation as a key element in economic growth, in addition to sharing the expertise of international accelerators, and recommend short and medium term action steps to boost the Lebanese start-up ecosystem. The workshop was presided by minister Kheireddine and the chairman of IDAL Nabil Itani, and gathered most of the emerging companies in Lebanon, fund representatives, foreign experts as well as representatives from the public sector and universities.