The Minister of Finance Mr. Ali Hassan Khalil received today, Friday, a delegation of general managers of national tobacco companies in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, accompanied by the President of the Regie Mr. Nassif Seklaoui.
Mr. khalil examined the “Beirut Declaration”, which was issued by these national tobacco companies, following their meeting yesterday, Thursday, at the Regie’s headquarter. The tobacco companies warned of “excluding tobacco sector from trade agreements and international investment”, which would lead to “negative devastations”. As well, they drew the attention toward “imposing additional restrictions on legal trade of tobacco products” which is in a position to encourage “illicit trade of such products” that in turn leads to “which a huge decrease of customs and tax rates that are currently collected from legal trade.”
Following the meeting Seklaoui said: “for the first time in the Regie’s and Arab monopolies’ history, the general managers of such national companies from four different countries meet in order to study potential economic cooperation between them as well as the chances of conjoined investments, and to unify their point of view toward international upcoming events on the level of threats that encounter tobacco sector.” He added: “we reach, with our Arab brothers, a common vision ions and their supervisory role, the dangers of smuggling on state revenues, ways to develop mechanisms to protect consumers from the effects of smuggling, and the involvement of the Lebanese private sector and industrialists in fighting smuggling. Among other subjects, participants will discuss the Parliament’s legislative role in combating illicit trade, developing customs procedures, enhancing law enforcement and prosecution, activating the role of security forces and mechanisms of coordination between them, and the latest initiatives in this regard, in addition to a statistical, legal, and international reading of the reality of smuggling and International practices and standards of fighting smuggling, in order to provide a broad base among concerned parties to fight illicit trade in Lebanon.
Speakers at the conference include MP Yassin Jaber, former Minister of Interior and Municipalities Ziad Baroud, Public Prosecutor General Ali Ibrahim, General Director of the Internal Security Forces Major General Imad Othman, Director General of the minister of Finance Alain Biffani, General Director of Customs Badri Daher, Director General of the Ministry of Economy and Trade Alia Abbas, Chairman of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists Dr. Fadi Gemayel, Head of the Anti-Smuggling Department at the Regie Mohammed Daher, as well as the UN Bureau of Combating Drugs and Crime’s expert David Izadifar and the expert from the Europol’s (European Police) expert Howard Pugh, and international law expert Hubert Lawrence. The sessions will be headed by the head of Institut de Finance Basel Fuleihan, Lamia El Mobayed Bsat, member of the Regie’s Board of Managers, Mazen Abboud, and international expert Alain Janovich.
Seklaoui hoped that “the practical recommendations of the conference would be a cornerstone of a joint national effort between concerned parties that integrates with the course of modernizing laws and legislations that control smuggling and its negative effects on the Lebanese economy and public finances.”