The President of the Regie said during a dinner held last Tuesday in honor of Lebanese mass media, that his organization provides the national treasury with 7.5 percent of its annual revenues. He pointed out that “tobacco farming currently sustains 25 thousand Lebanese households in different regions”.
Held at the restaurant Le Phenicien - Sin El Fil, the dinner was attended by the representative of the Minister of Information Melhem Al-Riashi, Director-General of the MoI Hassān Falha, President of the National Media Council Abdel Hadi Mahfouz, the presidents of Press and editors syndicates Awni El-Kaaki and Elias Aoun, Information Advisor to the President Rafiq Shalala, Director of the National Media Agency Laure Suleiman, and a number of media outlets managers and journalists.
Seklaoui said that the meeting was organized at this particular time due to “the state of despair caused by the country’s poor conditions and lack of confidence in Lebanese public sector”. He stressed that “it is unfair to generalize the impression that public utilities are failing and corrupt”, noting that “some public facilities are up front, modern, productive, and determined more than private sector, and some of them are successful despite all difficulties and obstacles”. “Each year, the Regie and other public facilities mdiv>