A delegation headed by Dr. Amal Amro, the president of the Bulgarian Alumni Association, and comprised from Engineer Iman Abou Hassan, Dr. Mosbah Wahb, Eng.
Wahib Qteish, Eng. Abdallah Khadra, and Mr. Ali Attieh, granted the Director General of the Regie Libanaise Des Tabacs Et Tombacs (Regie) Engineer Nassif Seklaoui
the title of Honorary President of the Association in recognition of his outstanding professional role and in appreciation of his continuous support for the association to
remain the framework that supports the role of graduates in building the country.
Wishing him health, success and brilliance.
a new agreement that we conclude with a major international tobacco company" with which it has "strategic partnership since years" and has achieved "fruitful successes and bilateral investments."
He recalled that the Regie signed an agreement five years ago with the company to manufacture its brands at the Regie’s plants, saying: “We announce today that we will re-launch at the end of 2022 one of our brands, Byblos, that we had ceased to produce since the seventies, with high quality specifications in the Lebanese market, with queen and king standards.
He added: "The Byblos brand will be manufactured currently in BAT plants in Jordan and will be another successful brand to add to the collection of our local quality products."
He explained that this "industrial cooperation (...) to manufacture this new brand" is due "firstly to the mutual trust" between both entities" and “secondly to several strategic reasons, mainly ensuring the continuity" of the Regie business.
He thanked British American Tobacco for responding to the request of the Regie, providing all its capabilities and energies to achieve this goal.
He continued: "We believe that investing in our industries is a priority considering its impact on local development and economy, which we have hardly worked to achieve, with you, over the past years until the Regie was able to top the local industry map and became a Middle Eastern center for the tobacco industry in the region.
However, we also believe that investing in our strategic partnerships is essential in the industrial field, as well.
Hence, we have added another pillar of cooperation with BAT, being convinced that this integral industrial partnership will achieve sustainable economic development and ensure the continuity of our production."
He highlighted that "the Regie has maintained its maximum production capacity despite the difficult conditions that Lebanon is going through and the major changes that it has witnessed. It has exceeded the economic indicators to meet the needs of the Lebanese market".
However, he noted that "such need is currently increasing and responding to it requires establishing new factories, huge investments, financial and technical capabilities, and an expensive effort."
He described the cooperation with BAT to manufacture the new brand as "the best solution to prevent any shortage of goods, halt monopoly in the Lebanese market, and counter the exploitation of any shortage of goods that would lead to higher prices."
He reassured that "as usual, the Regie is always countering forgery, smuggling, and counterfeiting", explaining that "the new Byblos brand is characterized by being encoded with a tracking system that limits the possibility of smuggling or imitation".
He stressed that "fighting smuggling is one of the most urgent issues to which the Regie pays special attention, given the negative effects of illegal trade on the national economy and the losses incurred by the treasury."
He concluded: "Today, our confidence is doubled, in our partners and our team.
We congratulate ourselves on this cooperation, as a new milestone in the series of achievements to add to our record. We also congratulate the Regie work team on taking this new experience, whose success is an additional evidence of the human resources that the Regie has.
Bocharov
In turn, BAT's General Manager in the Middle East, Pavel Bocharov, mentioned that the "old partnership" between the company and the Regie "is based on trust, mutual respect, and appreciation for each other's pursuit of excellence in term of quality."
He added that the two entities "are taking on a new journey today" explaining that "BAT's manufacturing facility in the Jordanian capital, Amman, will manufacture the Regie products."
He stressed that BAT would carry out this mission "with integrity and high quality standards", considering that "this step will strengthen the partnership" between both parties.