The Boards of Directors of the Zahle and Bekaa Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture and the Ras Al Khaimah Chamber of Commerce and Industry held their first video meeting, in a step aimed at transferring the memorandum of understanding signed between the two sides from the realm of theoretical frameworks to actual implementation. The meeting was chaired by the head of the Zahle and Bekaa Chamber, Mounir Al-Tini, and the head of the Ras Al Khaimah Chamber, Muhammad Ali Al-Nuaimi, in the presence of members of the Board of Directors and general directors from both parties, amid efforts to open new paths for investment and trade exchange, including the sectors of agriculture, tourism, real estate, and transportation between Lebanon and the Emirates.
The memorandum of understanding aims to activate economic and trade cooperation frameworks through the exchange of delegations, expertise, and information, as well as encouraging exhibitions, supporting joint projects, technology transfer, and promoting investment opportunities. It also focuses on monitoring obstacles to joint cooperation, proposing practical solutions to overcome them, and developing direct relations between the business communities in the two countries.
On the part of the Zahle and Bekaa Chamber, Treasurer Muhammad Bakri, and members Saeed Al-Laqis, Tony Tohme, Ibrahim Tarshishi, Tony Saliba, Mashhour Abu Hamdan, and Mounib Al-Shoubasi, along with Director General Youssef Jaha and heads of departments, participated in the meeting. On the part of the Ras Al Khaimah Chamber, the First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, Yousef Al-Balushi, the Financial Member, Mohammed Al-Sharhan, and the members, Dr. Rashid Al-Nuaimi, Ahmed Al-Amash, and Arfa Al-Falahi, attended.
During the meeting, Al-Tini reviewed the strategic importance of the Bekaa Governorate as the eastern gateway to Lebanon and the connecting point with the Arab world, highlighting the Chamber’s future vision, which includes transforming the military airport into a civilian cargo airport and rehabilitating the railways, allowing the transportation of goods from the port of Beirut to Saqr Port in Ras Al Khaimah within hours. He called for establishing a strong partnership and setting an executive agenda for the memorandum of understanding, extending an official invitation to his Emirati counterpart and members of the Chamber to visit the Bekaa, stressing by saying: “We have extended our hands to each other and we will achieve a lot of work.”
For his part, Al Nuaimi welcomed Al Tini’s invitation, exchanging it with a similar invitation, and provided an overview of the economic structure of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, which is home to the largest number of factories in the UAE. He pointed to the qualitative leap in the tourism sector since the emirate was opened to tourism under the guidance of Sheikh Ahmed Al Saud Al Qasimi, as the number of tourists increased from 100,000 in 2015 to one million and one million tourists are currently organized, with ambitions to reach 5 million tourists by 2030. He praised the role of the Lebanese community in the process of building the Emirates, expressing his hope that this partnership will be “a gateway to goodness between Ras Al Khaimah, the Bekaa and Zahle, and between the Emirates and Lebanon, including It serves the business community, residents and people of both countries.”
The meeting concluded with extensive discussions in which members of the two chambers participated, during which additional horizons for cooperation in vital sectors such as agriculture, tourism and real estate were explored, and mechanisms were developed to translate the memorandum of understanding into practical and fruitful steps that support joint economic relations.
