How to train
1900 Numbers Optus
LDE 2016 Day 2: Embracing Potentials in Australia
Sharing buttons:
it's a pleasure to be here and it's
great to have such a expert panel on
looking at the relations between
Australia and Lebanon
I must confess in fact what I did get
the invitation to come to Beirut to do
the panel I thought it was a session on
energy because I beam based in Abu Dhabi
I thought it was covering oil and gas
and I know that Lebanon has oil and gas
potential so I thought the potential of
oil and gas with regards to the energy
of the Lebanese diaspora coming back to
take advantage of the reserves that we
have in the eastern Mediterranean but I
think it's apropos the title of course
because of the energy of the Diaspora of
some 15 million people worldwide I'm of
a Greek American origin and we look with
great Envy at the work that the Diaspora
does in every corner of the world our
goal here today in the next hour in 10
minutes is to look at the potential of
the relationship between Lebanon and
Australia it's about a half a million or
just over that living in Australia today
distance is a key factor that holds back
bilateral trade but the cultural ties
the business ties what can be built for
the future the educational ties that are
already in place as you can see here we
have six panelists they're gonna do a
range of six to eight minutes of opening
comments or presentations and then we
want to allow at least 30 minutes for a
discussion amongst ourselves and to take
questions from the floor as well so have
your questions ready just give us a
signal and we'll make sure you can get
your your questions in we have a short
video I think it is about a minute and a
half looking at the potential of course
of a destination in Australia we know
the beauty of Lebanon we had a taste of
it last night at the dinner just looking
at the wine sector itself let's go ahead
and roll that video and then we'll get
our presentations ready thanks
well it's hard to describe
but it is
you see it's different down here the air
just has more life it sounds touch you
that's a place that stays sometimes
lucky it stays forever
that's what is nothing
Australia isn't just a place you see
it's a place you feel okay uh just
before I continue and invite our first
of the speakers His Excellency the
Ambassador Glen Miles our session will
at the end include the launching of the
International Chamber House and the
signing of a declaration of intent where
are we going beyond today's discussion
to real action with regards to bilateral
relations I'm gonna remind our panelists
with the exception of the Ambassador who
has 8 to 10 minutes
each one of you has 5 to 6 minutes in
your presentation if you see me doing a
dance in front of you and saying to wrap
up to keep the conversation clear and so
we can get to our roundtable discussion
let's give a warm welcome first to
ambassador Glenn Myles he's the
ambassador of Australia to Lebanon to
give us an overarching theme of their
bilateral relations thanks John and I'd
like to say I did have the same the same
sense as John did when I first read last
year about the energy conference
thinking it was about oil and gas before
I realized it was actually a great term
to describe what the dear diaspora can
add to to Lebanon and what it can give
back so on behalf of the Australian
Embassy I'd like to congratulate the
Minister for Foreign Affairs and
immigrants Gibran Basile as well as
members of his hard working ministry
team I'm putting together this
conference and I'd like to give a
particularly warm welcome to those who
have flown from Australia and other
parts of the world to this important
event now this is a second time that
I've had the pleasure of attending the
conference and I believe it is a
wonderful initiative it's so important
that Lebanon does all it can to harness
the abundant energy of the Diaspora and
uses this to stimulate and grow the
Lebanese economy and and let's be honest
Lebanon is already doing that you can
see it in the national account figures
just look at the flow of remittances
which provide the economy with such a
solid foundation
but we can and we must do more and this
conference should assist in establishing
a framework for developing trade
opportunities including those in cut
encouraging investment and
infrastructure and development which is
so badly needed and I'm sure anyone who
spent time in the traffic here knows
that this country does need investment
in infrastructure well I've only spent a
year and a half in Lebanon I've spent
almost 18 years working in the region so
as efficient a bit Nikki had a Billiken
bash where and my experience has taught
me it's the people-to-people links that
underpin and define our relationship and
in this Lebanon and Australia are just
so fortunate because the Australian
Lebanese community is both long-standing
and diverse it's well represented across
all sectors of society from politics to
business from culture to sport the
community has contributed in all manner
of ways to Australian society and the
Australian delegation that is here with
us today
one of the largest of the conference is
testament to this and nor should we
forget the lebanese australians that
reside in other countries particularly
the gulf so when we talk about the
australian Lebanese diaspora we can and
should expand our horizons and that is
why events like this are so important
because they bring people together they
provide an opportunity to meet and
discuss how we can better use the
economic power and the knowledge of the
Lebanese Australian diaspora till we
energize the relationship and to spread
the news of both Lebanon and Australia
are great places to do business now in
the 2013-14 financial year the total
trade between Australia and Lebanon
stood at only 60 million now it's
important to note here that this under
sells are there's a lot of exports that
are coming in then aren't picking being
picked up in the direct figures but
whatever the real value of the route the
trade relationship it clearly Falls a
long way short of its potential and it's
up to us both my lebanese colleagues the
australian government and you here today
to help realize the opportunities that
do exist now with that it short
introduction I'd like to take you
through a few slides which briefly
outline Australia's capabilities and
strengths
and touch on a few of the sectors where
I see potential for further engagement
so a snapshot of a Australia one of the
key problems we have in boosting the
bilateral trade relationships is about
perceptions so for those of you who
aren't familiar with the economy and
what we have a here's a quick snapshot
first off some key facts and you can't
read it which is good with more than
twenty feet four years of uninterrupted
annual economic growth now it's a record
amongst OECD countries any country would
be proud to have 24 years of
uninterrupted growth a triple a
sovereign risk profile and diverse
globally competitive industries
Australia remains well-placed to build
on an impressive record of prosperity
and at 1.5 trillion dollars Australia is
the 13th largest economy in the world
and was and was most recently ranked
fifth in the world for GDP per capita by
the World Bank
so in anyone's language it's a sizeable
and wealthy economy Australia's economy
is also predominantly services based
close to 80 percent but it's highly
diversified across a range of sectors
and most of you are probably familiar
with the success and the capabilities of
our resource sector but we are also
global leaders in several other areas
including agribusiness education tourism
and you just saw the video and wealth
management and I'll touch on more of
these in a moment and as you can
hopefully see I know it's a bit small to
read from this slide the country's
sophisticated financial services
industry is the largest contributor to
the economy generating 9 percent of its
total gross value added but it's also
worth noting that our scientific
education and telecommunication sectors
make up almost fifteen percent of total
output demonstrating Australia's highly
skilled well-educated and innovative
workforce now we get to the small print
and that's why I've got it very small so
you can't see it unless you you've got
your glasses on so what is the business
environment like well thankfully I'm
able to say that Australia is one of the
easiest places in the world to do
business overall Australia ranks 10th in
the world for ease of doing business and
fourth when compared
economies with a similar or larger
population and for those looking to
expand when thinking about opening an
office in Australia we ranked fourth in
obtaining credit and seventh in starting
a business and that's all good news for
those looking to expand operations
further afield including using Australia
as a gateway into Asia and just in case
you needed further convincing and
Lettuce FDI figures also serve as an
excellent indicator of whether global
market sees opportunity value
uncertainty Australia's global share of
foreign direct investment was 2.3
percent in 2013 now that works out to be
almost 600 billion dollars and it's a
figure that only Grant has grown on the
back of continued economic expansion and
integration with trading partners not
only in Asia but also in the MENA region
so in 2013
two-way merchant merchandise trade with
Mena countries came to sixteen point two
billion dollars now this figure is
enhanced by our growing aviation links
there are a hundred and forty flights a
week 140 fights a week between the Gulf
countries and Australia and the presence
of more than 350 companies in the region
so following on from the fundamentals I
just wanted to quickly highlight a
couple of sectors where I see real
opportunities for growth the first areas
agribusiness Australia's reputation as a
safe and secure source of quality
produce and premium products has
resulted in Australian agribusiness
with nine of the top ten destination
markets in Asia now you notice that MENA
region isn't captured in this graphic
but that's not to say it's not an
important market and in 2013 food and
agricultural products to juic countries
alone total two billion dollars now
Lebanon is a smaller but still important
market and to give you an example in
2015 beef imports into Lebanon came to
more than ten point five million up from
seven to eight million over the
preceding three years and in my time
here I've been very surprised and very
pleased by the quality as well as the
strong reputation of Australian beef you
see it in just about every restaurant
you go into
as I've already touched on Australia is
also home to one of the region's most
sophisticated financial sectors
providing access to capital and
financial expertise particularly in
wealth management Australia is full of
Park funds under management is the third
largest in the world and the largest in
the Asian region of course I don't need
to tell Lebanese about the importance of
the banking and financial sector and to
me there are obvious SEC toriel's
synergies between our countries that we
can and we should utilize the bank of
Beirut has already provided an example
by purchasing the Bank of Sydney and
establishing a foothold in the
Australian market access to quality
education is also an area where
Australia is excelling education
services are now one of Australia's
leading exports and Australia is home to
20 of the of the top 400 universities
and we track students from around the
world we are the fourth most popular
destination for choosing students
choosing to study overseas now that
means we attract more international
students than much larger economy
economies such as Germany and we have
about the same number and I think we've
just overtaken France of course Lebanon
has its own highly regarded tertiary
sector and I've been fortunate enough to
visit many of it at your leading
universities here and there is scope to
grow the number of Lebanese students
choosing Australia as an education
destination but what I want to see is
greater collaboration between
researchers based in Australia and
Lebanon to take advantage of our already
close people-to-people links finally and
picking up the education theme I just
want to mention the subject of
innovation you can send this slide just
some of the important innovations
developed by Australians which have
helped a revolutionary revolutionize how
the world does things from Google Maps
to IVF Wi-Fi to the bionic ear but while
Australians are proud of their past
achievements R&D is all about solving
the problems of the future Lebanon is
fortunate to have such a highly young
educated population your human capital
is this evidenced by all of you here
today is I believe one of your major
strengths
and I know Lebanon is also trying to
develop with considerable success its
own innovative startup program for IT
entrepreneurs so how can we help well
that that's where the Embassy comes in
and before I should go on I note that
Austrade is the main government agency
charged with assisting trade and
investment opportunities and here is a
list of some of the services they
provide but what I would do is encourage
anyone who has an interest in either
investing in in Australia or
establishing or looking at trade
opportunities is to contact the embassy
now once again I want to thanks to all
the event organizers and everyone in
attendance today and as I said at the
outset Lebanon has a very well
established Community Links with its
diaspora especially with its Australian
brothers and sisters so many of whom
have been successful in business and the
Australian delegation represented at
this cotton conference is testament to
that and hopefully occasions such as
this will enable us to identify new
opportunities to build on these
achievements now just looking at the
video I think was the message there was
important to remember there is nothing
like Australia with that chuckling
cat-eared not long after I landed in
Australia in someone else's shoes with
an empty suitcase that was full of a
dream I fell in love with the three
things a country a woman and an idea I
was fascinated by the diversity in
Australia the diversity of everything
faces races languages cultures cuisines
religions I decided to call Australia
home the women that I fell in love with
the same woman that understood in love
with the mother of my three boys
an australian-born
Italian and the idea was the idea of how
to communicate with this diversity these
people who come from every corner of the
earth so with my wife we started
Australia and the world's first
multicultural communication advertising
promotion negotiation company the work
of that company took us everywhere not
only to every one of the 200 communities
that make up Australia but quite often
to their countries of origin so we ended
up not only teaching them about many
things but quite often we learned from
them right from the start
Australia and the Australian taught me
to be fair and fair dinkum the
indigenous taught me to respect the land
I learned from the British to respect
the law and earlier the French taught me
to respect the language the Chinese
taught me how to work and work hard yet
penny he's taught me how to negotiate
while the Dutch taught me how to bargain
I learned from the Greeks the art of
debate the Arabs taught me the art of
hospitality I learned from the
Indonesian how to respect the elderly
while the Filipinos taught me about the
importance of the family and its
centrality I learned from the Vietnamese
to be tenacious the German taught me to
be precise the Korean taught me to value
education I learned from the American to
value liberty the Russian taught me the
meaning of steadfastness I learned from
the Thai how to smile and the Portuguese
taught me how to be polite I learned
from the swiss the art of neutrality
the New Zealanders taught me how to
innovate and improvise I learned from
everyone I learned from Africa to
appreciate music Europe taught me how
diversity can generate unity I learned
from the world the meaning of oneness I
learned from Hinduism to look beyond my
human frailty while Buddhism taught me
about relinquishment Judaism taught me
to always have hope Islam taught me not
to ever lose faith in God and the
Christianity taught me to love and
forgive without any discrimination the
most important lesson that I learned
from you my own people the Lebanese I
learned how to learn from everyone and
from everyone I learned that if you want
to be effective in your communication
whether you are buying or selling or
advertising or marketing or negotiating
or trading you need to understand the
culture and the language of your target
audience and this is what we learned
from definitions those people who have
ruled the Mediterranean long before the
Greeks and the Romans by learning the
languages and understanding the culture
and trading this inspired me with the
Lebanese in Australia and all the
migrant to create the ethnic business
Awards the longest-running business
award in Australia while I was doing the
award I discovered that not only
migrants in general have a higher
percentage of self employed in the
country that the Lebanese have double of
the national figure this is over the
last four decades five decades so I
learned from them how they have learned
from their ancestors definition the
awards recognize the contribution
against the odds of migrants
and over the last 20 80s the Lebanese
have received more of this award than
any other communities and the figure
constantly in Australia is always double
of their number of self-employed now to
me countries can run out of oil and gas
and petroleum and minerals but Lebanon
will never run out of the human talents
it's in our gene we inherited that and
for thousands of years
we are still trading with it and it's
our lovel energy doesn't matter what
happened the Lebanese the Diaspora will
always be a global energy for the
Lebanese and allow me to conclude by
nice poems that I remember that was said
by a famous diplomat from Lebanon and a
writer in Brazil in the early 60s by the
name of Yusuf soda
and he talked about the achievement of
the earliest migrant and he said in
Arabic Masha Allah Bereket will air this
is about the migrant dr. Jimenez me lewb
Nana was all miscellany mantequilla time
will availa Montes Ian Huckle hiya T be
afar in was nanny hot tubbin al-nusra
focal Co here far Malthus Roberta's cool
roughly will bene
and then when they told him about the
problem of diversity he said something
also so good he said Tolu @ OA fo l a--
DN a-- to HIPAA who will to Mahavira
fitted adi adi any mammoth you look nana
Bala denier tava at faux pas who Korea
to Dini with dunya Lee insanely sharpens
amojan in the Salah you Denis who saw
tool messy heiio - we do for any and
this is his conclusion about the
diaspora he said lik Alicia bin Aloysius
fara rotten on ya issue fee we are ah
who beaten any wanna know
Benna hi Marissa Ramachari Lana are dil
apna nanny is nanny political matter
Philip nan pull to Lahore fell alimony
mother Lubner Nina Feeney I want now
really to conclude by telling you I'm so
pleased to have one of the recipient of
the award mr. fat is Zuki he received
the award because again he achieved
against the odd he made the abnormal
normal he created an environment and
every hospital out of sixty hospital in
Australia by establishing a mini
shopping centre and his work is now
right across the world also I have a
sponsor of the award by the name of Tony
jaha who has the fastest growing company
in Australia in telecommunication and
the third largest company after Telstra
and Optus and Tony again employs more
than twelve hundred people including in
Lebanon same as fatty thank you very
much for listening and I think I thank
the minister and I think I'd love to
give him an award because of what he
achieved what he did by bringing is all
here deserves a very good award thank
you
in Australia when we give a public
function as a public speech we
acknowledge the original owners of the
land the Aboriginal tribes who earned
the land today I like to start by
acknowledging and paying tribute to the
Lebanese who remained in Lebanon
notwithstanding the hardship of wars
bomb being lack of infrastructure
demolitions the Lebanese without them we
will not have our lability
and we will not have a length to return
to
I wish today to share my 47 years
journey the highlights of that journey
in Australia having grown up in Lebanon
coming from a very small village called
Acton eat in the south of Lebanon
I call it my roots my inspiration and
the platform that launches us when we
are outside Lebanon to living in
Australia that's actually to living in
Australia the land of opportunities real
opportunities and challenges the land of
fairness where everyone has got access
to health to education I like to show
you where I live the most beautiful
place in Sydney
Kuji from an Aboriginal name
kujah bad smell but really the smell of
seaweeds by the shore and the place
where I work the University of Notre
Dame Australia that shares my values
values that I like to instill in my
students because my job is human capital
but not just a human capital that is
competent technically with an enormous
knowledge base but a human capital that
has professionalism integrity
trustworthiness compassion and real
compassion for the other humans and a
desire to make a difference by a
contribution to a world full of Wars and
where the divide between the rich and
the poor is becoming bigger and bigger
and as a doctor as a lawyer and as a
scientist these are the degrees that
Australia gave me the opportunity to
acquire at no cost to myself tax payer
funded
now my contribution to Australia and
back to Lebanon is to as a doctor be a
teacher and inspire someone who can make
a difference in someone's life someone
who is significant in someone's life and
to illustrate how we do that is through
the years I have the opportunity to sit
on medical boards that regulate the
conduct of bad misbehaving doctors I had
the opportunity to sit on boards that
regulate the delivery of health services
to disadvantaged people I sit on the
board of four major hospitals and I ran
now a clinical school for the University
of not read on and in terms of what we
instill in our students who are
graduates with degree from any kind of
degree they are philosophers they are
musicians they are accountants in our
school we instill in them those values
including the quest to help the
disadvantaged and in Australia we still
have the challenge of Aboriginal people
having poor health with high morbidity
and high mortality so where we have done
that is by role modelling this is our
school in Australia we're all modelling
what we believe in so I had the
opportunity to be the founder as a
co-founder of an old people home that
often multicultural services including
services to the Lebanese and it's
currently run by the Antonine sisters in
Melbourne it has 60 residential beds the
next thing we did is in 2006 when
Lebanon was bombed our heart bled in
Australia and we formed the Australians
for Lebanon group and we raised through
an evening called Sahara a hundred
thousand dollars that we donated to the
Red Cross in Lebanon and then I came
with a delegation of
Australians lawyer and doctors and we
studied the south of Lebanon the impact
of cluster bombs on the health of the
local community and wrote a report to
the Senate about it which then led to is
it's a generous amount by the Australian
government to help clear the bombs
finally just one more thing
thank you and also it led to a
recommendation for burning of the
indiscriminate effect of cluster bombs
on people's health just as a last thing
I want to share with you that in our
course we value differences as Joe has
already said because we have got
students from all walks of life we've
got musicians we've got philosophers we
have got accountants we have got lawyers
we always value that difference and
included in our teaching so our teaching
is what we call the Socratic way of
teaching where we get people to think
and questions but also share their
talents which enriches the school and
often we start our tutorial by inviting
students for example who are oppressing
us to share their talent so we can start
the tutorial with an aria from an opera
and then that gives us a platform to get
really engrossed in the nitty-gritty
learning and teaching of science having
said that I wish to thank you from the
bottom of my heart for giving me the
opportunity to share it with you by my
associate dean is with me today from not
random University because we like to
make a stronger connection by Lebanon
our university is exploring the
potential of having students from
Lebanon disadvantaged come and study
medicine in our university and we're
exploring funding a scholarship for them
so thank you for that opportunity
thank you very much for the for the
invitation to come and what I'm going to
do today is just to give you a snapshot
of a number of the different studies
that I've done on Lebanese immigration
and business in Australia so um many of
you will be familiar that Lebanese have
been migrating to Australia since the
1880s
and we usually do divide the waves of
migration into four so 1882 World War
one and 1947 to 1966 and then 1967 to 75
and then post-civil war 1900 civil
during the civil wars 1975 to 1990 but
in all the waves immigration to
Australia Lebanese have been
significantly involved in business and
and it and the tendency to
self-employment as as was mentioned by
the previous speaker and I've done it
done a number of studies this is what
I've put up here is actually a study
that I did with the head sheet
Association of Australia looking at
areas of employment and business in the
community and as you can see in this
community snapshot the head sheet
community in Sydney is heavily involved
in the construction in
Street and that that has emerged as a
niche market for them and if we go to
the next slide please
we'll see that 60% of the of the men in
the community are working in
construction mothers still in in the
factory sector in an ER in a significant
proportion and but with the children 20
percent moving into the professions and
then retail so then I was interested
well is this a pattern that we see more
broadly across the Arabic businesses in
Australia and a somewhat different
picture emerge when I looked look more
widely I've just listed here a number of
the different Lebanese Chamber of
Commerce and Arab Chambers of Commerce
many of you represented here today just
to your attention that there's a wide
range of business activity today in
Australia amongst Lebanese and so just
to go to the next slide what I've done
here has looked at 780 different
businesses that are listed in the Arabic
business directory in Australia and we
see a somewhat different pattern in the
clustering and concentration in the
business patterns and what we see if the
number one niche is food and catering
amongst the Arabic businesses and then
the second that's with 26 percent of the
business concentration across the 780
companies and then the second is
weddings the wedding industry and I
guess we shouldn't be too surprised
about the importance of the wedding
industry in Australia amongst the Arabic
businesses when we think how costly
weddings have become and then the third
major area arts and entertainment and
then fourth beauty and personal care so
the next I guess major question that a
lot of research researchers ask about
immigrant self-employment and leaven and
the tendency for Lebanese across
Lebanese the different waves of there
beneath immigration is wine why do
Lebanese 10th
prefer self-employment is it a challenge
or is it an opportunity is it is it a
virtue of necessity or is it a choice
this is one of the questions that
researchers have consistently come back
to and what I find is that it is really
both Lebanese have consistently
encountered in all the different waves
of migration challenges and structural
impediments to their labor force
participation in a number of the
different countries that they have
settled in including Australia and the
most significant impediment they found
in the first wave of Lebanese
immigration to Australia was the White
Australia Policy which actually enacted
in law significant barriers today to
their ability to work in a range of
different professions and to own
property in Australia and this is this
accounted for the types of businesses
that Lebanese then went into in the
first wave so they were significantly
self-employed in Hawkin and then moved
to the country towns in Australia and
had dry goods stores and general stores
and that also was an opportunity because
it was a need for the Australian economy
at that time as as it was it as the
territorial expansion into the country
towns was facilitated by the presence of
Lebanese traders but as we've moved
forward you see in the different waves
that Lebanese consistently find
opportunities new opportunities for
businesses we just go back a slide sorry
so we said with the the had chic
community found a significant niche in
the construction industry and then we
see the emergence of the weddings so so
I will say that it's both a challenge
and an opportunity to be in business but
when I did a number of different
interviews with Lebanese entrepreneurs
in Australia I asked them why why have
they gone into business what is their
main motivation of these were the if we
go back a slide please the four main
motivations were that it's an ambition
and an opportunity but also that running
a business and they will
to hire their family and to work in a
family business and then that the other
driving motivation is that that more
money can be made in business than just
wages and or identifying a gap in the
market and then lastly the the
preference to be your own boss and to
work for yourself and so next slide
please the finally just through what is
success how when I ask that
entrepreneurs how do they measure the
success of their business
what consistently came across from all
of the interviews of that is that making
money isn't isn't the most important
thing they almost all rated having a
successful family as being more
important than just making money alone
and lastly what was the secret to
success so many men have said that it
comes a lot of it actually comes down to
good luck so and I leave you with this
bit with this quote so always in your
life you've got bad luck and good luck
and you can't cry when you've got bad
luck and be happy when you've got good
luck
you have to temp both lose and win
healthy and sick that's how you can live
and be happy so thank you very much
everyone
thank you John the theme of my talk
today is Lebanon's role in the new
emerging markets distinguished guests
ladies and gentlemen allow me to begin
by saying how good it is to be here and
to feel some of the vibration that
existed in this wonderful city Beirut up
to the early 70s a period I look back at
and from which I derive my strength to
move forward with the intention to see
Lebanon back on its feet with the same
vibration and will to play its natural
role on the world stage ever since our
chamber was established 30 years ago it
has always been our desire to see this
magical small country rise and be the
peaceful place be the peaceful and
vibrant business place it was and we all
want it to be we have never ever given
up on Lebanon even in the most difficult
of times and can proudly say that we
have kept a permanent business and
physical presence right here in Beirut
and the most difficult of periods that
Lebanon faced
we have always promoted Beirut as a
launching pad for Australian products
and services in the Middle East region
and beyond in fact and I'm proud to
inform you the wild Lebanon was still
suffering terribly as a result of the
war that was going on the chamber
through seminars and constant meetings
with
with the business community in
Australian government both federal and
state maintained a strong belief in
Lebanon's ability to rise from the ashes
and move forward this strong belief in
Lebanon gained a lot of respect from
both the business community and both the
state and federal governments at present
we are working very closely with major
Australian companies by having them
visit Lebanon to meet with key business
leaders with whom we have a great old
relationship and who are heavily
involved in the Middle East region as a
whole we have a very strong partnership
a business relationship with the
Australian business Chamber which is the
oldest and largest and most effective
chamber in Australia together we work
hand in hand in all matters related to
trade and services and we are currently
working on the 2017 Congress of chambers
of will chambers in Sydney which we
would like the Lebanese to be heavily
involved in we have made a lot of
grounds in promoting Beirut as the ideal
location in most suitable city to launch
Australian products and services in
readiness for the emerging markets in
the region I can honestly tell you that
all the delegations we have so far
brought to Lebanon were highly impressed
with the professionalism of those that
they have met and were able to see for
themselves the great potentials that do
exist definitely there's a lot of hard
work to be done but we are confident
that with perseverance and strong belief
in what we do the end result is positive
for both Lebanon and the Australian
business community I must point out that
we are all well aware that Lebanon's
various problems have accumulated over
the
and must be seriously addressed
particularly in matters related to the
business world where other countries in
the region have developed excellent
modern systems to help the business
community transact with ease and
efficiency although we are aware of
Lebanon's woes the government however
must do all it could to modernize
Lebanon's bureaucratic system in order
to attract the international business
community Lebanon has all the attributes
to make it a great place to transact but
it definitely needs to shape up its
bureaucratic services in all sectors
on another note the chamber has
accompanied the success of promoting and
marketing Lebanese foodstuffs on the
Australian market and there are many
wonderful stories on lebanon lebanese
manufacturers ability to export in the
most difficult periods with the
Chamber's help in logistics right here
in beirut we can proudly say that over
the last 30 years the chamber was behind
the launching of many lebanese products
on the australian market through
exhibitions and promotions among them
the introduction of lebanese wine b and
iraq our ongoing immediate exercise is
to have fresh lebanese produce on the
australian market based on viable
studies and seasonal differences we have
now elevated this exercise to
ministerial level in both ministries of
agriculture in Australia and Lebanon
channeling all correspondence through
the Lebanese Embassy in Canberra and
foreign affairs in Beirut I'm happy to
advise that recently serious meetings in
this regard were held here in Beirut by
an Australian agricultural official
Lebanon foreign affairs and the Lebanese
Ministry of Agriculture had a grey
did a great job in receiving this agree
official this is a major leap forward
and seeing this exercise come to
fruition
while in Beirut I'll be pursuing this
major exercise with all the relevant
parties in the hope we can now move to
execution ladies and gentlemen the
responsibility to see our beloved
homeland be the place we all aspire it
to be lies on all of us and not just
officialdom let us speak out when
necessary but not always concentrating
on the negative and not seeing the
positive aspects Lebanon has proved time
and again that it has a tremendous will
to survive in a never-ending desire and
appetite for peaceful good living I must
also mention that regardless of the
great help of those in the in the
Diaspora Lebanon wouldn't have survived
if it weren't for our people that
remained here right here in Lebanon and
faced all the wars and hardships that
this small country have suffered over
the years
I must conclude by saying that Lebanon
has a great friend called Australia this
wonderful land that have received our
people with open arms over the last 150
years deserve our deep respect the
performance of Australia's ambassador to
Lebanon mr. Glen Myles is a living proof
of this great relationship ladies and
gentlemen let us resolve to work
together hand in hand for the well-being
of our people and this wonderful
homeland avails lebanon thank you when I
come to Lebanon I get very emotional so
I forget about writing speeches I spoke
from the heart that's my country here
mr. Bassel what an amazing man you are
thank you from the bottom of my heart
for uniting us for the second time in
Lebanon from across the world a big
gratitude goes to you
Minister Allen Hakim I acknowledge you
for the the strength of will you have to
deal with lot of challenges that
Lebanon's going through economically and
by no means it takes a lot of talent and
will envision to deal with it so again I
congratulate you as well
ambassador Glenn miles our people of
Lebanon the panelists
ladies and gentlemen I'm just gonna
share my story as it is with you I think
this is the best way I could pass a
message about Lebanon and Australia I
left Australia the first time with my
family
I was one year old my mom died one week
before our departure to Australia she
was going to Australia to meet her
parents and she didn't make it my father
continued his migration process and we
stayed for four years and my father
decided to come back to Lebanon we came
back to Lebanon and regretfully one year
later the brought the war broke out the
civil war broke out and so we had to
experience displacement tragedies a very
unforgiving civil war that thousands and
thousands of Lebanese were wasted
however what I learned during that
process of time is I learned resilience
I learned faith in God
I learned faith in my country and those
elements I took with me to Australia and
they were the access of my success in
Australia we left Lebanon 1984 Lebanon
was in a very bad shape we left from the
port here lost to Beirut on a boat to
Cyprus I can never forget the image of
leper Beirut being completely torn about
by constant selling so that last scene
remained in my heart in my vision up to
day and that's why I decided when I
arrived to in Australia the land of
opportunities that I will do my utmost
to also look after my country of origin
Lebanon Australia has been great to our
family and great to all the Lebanese
diaspora they house over 500,000 of
lebanese origin
they gave us unlimited opportunities and
also gave us an a purchase to achieve of
course our dreams I arrived in Australia
I did the last two years of my secondary
education I didn't even know who the
Prime Minister of Australia was six
years later I was lecturing in law and
university I taught over 7,000 students
from Australian community in law the
first opportunity I got and a few years
later I established with my brothers the
fastest growing in Australia the zookie
group employing over 6,000 Australians
over the years establishing over 270
stores across Australia and I'm very
proud to say I came back to my country
Lebanon and establish a store in the
case Lake here in Lebanon as well
Australia has given us a lot to learn it
taught us to be fair to be forgiving to
accept others to have the Liberty and
your liberty stops at others liberties
but also Australia taught us never ever
to forgive forget your country of origin
they encouraged us to keep our values
they encouraged us to be entrepreneurs
they encouraged us to stay in contact
and they embedded that those values in
their own legal system and how could I
help Lebanon I asked them myself that
question I started doing that in the at
university we started the first
University Club Lebanese Club at
University in the history of Australia
where we gathered together about 60
students to basically join together to
try and promote Lebanon in a far more
positive way than it was in the 80s and
to get quorum we needed about 80 so we
cheated we got 10 more Chinese to join
us to get the numbers so that we can
sign that club visa fee that we also
established a Chamber of Commerce in
Victoria the Chamber of Commerce played
a very active role in order to build an
economic bridge between Australia and
Lebanon we felt business is the only way
that we can bring the two nations
together we also felt that's the only
way we can help Lebanon rise over its
political economic and social
difficulties is to support Lebanon
economically and we also note that the
biggest fear Lebanon experienced over
this period of time especially in our
recent times is the economic terrorist
and a lot of countries are trying to
impose on Lebanon and we refused that
cut early and we have done many trade
missions we have signed many ammo use
including the Beirut Chamber of Commerce
and Industry Tripoli chopper Chamber of
Commerce and Industry and the the
International Lebanese Business Council
and also halfa in France as well and
we've done many events to try promote
revenue positively encourage business
between the two nations as my colleague
indicated earlier we also promote
Lebanon as a platform for East Africa
and the Gulf region we also tell the
Australians that they are over 15
million live lebanese origin around the
world they are wheeling and dealing one
way or the other and you need them to
incite business into the nation as far
as far as the Lebanese coming to
Australia is a great place for
investment as I said I am a living
testimony our success is purely and only
purely for the support Australia has
given us and the opportunities Riley has
given us so today I have put together an
idea to our Minister and that is to try
and launch an internship international
chamber house in Lebanon what I felt is
that in order for a desperate to come
back to Lebanon families will only come
back if they have a house in Lebanon
single people will only come back if
they have a relationship in Lebanon
and business people would come back of
course through the efforts of the
chambers that here but if you want the
chambers of commerce from around the
world to come here and become proactive
in the Lebanese economy you must give
them a residence and this is where the
idea stems from so I thank the Minister
of Commerce and the Minister of Foreign
Ministry for the support and
acknowledging the idea and would like to
invite them to witness this declaration
today
Mohammed is me a show cat Missal my name
is Sydney Australia mashaallah Australia
is until of sameer service on I can
assure silly be become sustain that
happy husband oh man Williams our
consulate in Sydney hot dog has blond
men two favorite hundred Margaret be
balladeer to return the album Rodney
umbrella is over McGrath the balladeer
Holly and Anna the massive opposition
whip an imodium Shawn and Mohammed Rafi
measures sure when he Alicia of a new
kun men assault Danny and Asif normal
rockin Moroccan do share capital vaca
Mark van Gogh sahajiya hadn't Mortimer
who would mankind and nature elk on land
no Lebanon in the Hegira so bad holla
holla Angela de anza pot-stirrer a lot
shot Hamlet Act II halal Haram hasatan
and an olive be Australia nationally I
mean of memmio Satine and his reality
natasha natashas Eric and Bill Vieira
and nest to serve Allah Australia we
Australia struggle ooh
oh I'm no biblical across the Balaton GD
Australia who Naja foo gently the many
burst rally Hawaii to admit Alf and
cannot be Sydney with Victoria be
Adelaide bad that when the head but when
I can be hospitable that nice of us the
if he had allotted the Akbar be
Australia Viet Minh meet with many
mignon and many many honest me Lebanon
in Nashua be killed admission that Assad
BCS a sport belittle other be cool
imagine at rehearsal on the CSI
Australia
ha certain many in the hollow pcs here
hot afield many battlin hoenn a bit much
issue to him be helpful Samir hands wash
rain Alicia of a new command be much
less sure he added no web can dejalo
poor devil Australia mean on which topic
and speaker Holly and Thomas George
Deputy Speaker Sabian can be resilient
war Abed Mozilla Baba Perry rocket
across the hallowed Boardman Australia
to New South Wales will jamia the
twelfth Michelle Marie Bashir the
professor Mary machine NASA had be to
her and took a bit album Arad had about
national scene II Hackman relate in New
South Wales Adam effigy and no Luke knee
is a Hammond OTL Michelle and Yama
Lygia we add them less trauma on the
second philosoph loop Dineen como para
nuestro bill african-american sinhala
Australia with many highly ambitious
Australia usual America the Canada
annuity that mana with mana whenua
community Costner Majella land aplenty
in a new building here on land and no
arsenic Billy
Ella plane Lamborghini shabby hazier
which can be useful we add them Mustafa
Muhammad al-mustafa Huey Meno Lebanon
Anthony Rossano je veux que el Moussa
Deacon
beheaded bajada Michelle and no issue
for Keith Moon conservator Harmon been
regional Imelda sellable
bellarmin how the harlem new chief
Sylvia robot
Ben Horne opened most Arab in the Adamo
most mahogany
Hyatt on a sofa built nine pneumophila
is Jerry Birla main Mohamed Mahmoud at
La MaMa mentorship is general Rajesh
miss Mitaka the Hadean Eon and Hyder
Marathi
optimism a yachty Magellan Denny has no
fee film stable knock'em knock'em 11
year we shocked many in Aoyama Lestrade
B'Elanna
Annabeth manda
helmet AMA Nehemia
excellency
Minister Zhu Bobby Seale dear friend mr.
ambassador the panelists ladies and
gentlemen allow me just to shift for the
official words in Lebanese fajita has in
advaitha a little El Dorado Adi ahem
Vitalik the most romantic table water
toha well first lady terracotta to a
lady monkey and tapa hot rock Oh
advocate Alameda zoo nakhon been a
chameleon Susan
- malignant Australia a locket Waseca
vomity Novato aramid madama Bertram area
Tasha bacchanalian a locker dream career
Manor AHA Mia
Susan watchman Bhavana London in most
urban legend not ssbm one after
challenge as a team
Lottie Rafa assemble nan Eilean a claw
American Alice ooh Oh Bert what
hadiyyah-lah - ah-ha-ha travelhob Nani
voila causes a jihad on jihad Lebanon in
Lebanon yet most Roberto most Arab in
the Australia shahadat wattage Arab
tooth with Lana mirin water on a litter
he Australia Bill Kudarat Luda Nia -
Jacques Callot be raja'na Sarah
Catalunya
I am demand valent a wall moussaka fairy
refer dr. Saad al mustafa australia
australia allah temperature she attacked
arabia Tarawa at Manoa Somalia manure
Virgil amel no hobbies out at him eleven
on mimosa homophile integer Tony Oh Alec
au chocolat rahmatan dr. Serban Carol
Kubrat electi excessive aura from
forgotten manthara wet Lawton wanna know
muta'ali kumbaya
jamia a banana fish a clean kabir
say that acidity interlaken men
whistling - Sarah Ludemann e da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da da da da
da da da we modulate before Santeria
Dida hair mustache Mira Jorge Ramos de
ella mató Dom has jota allah allah aziz
allah wa khatim ayahuasca Coffea men
here towel is Eliot Nanaia mal what a
noob man without a meal abdur-rahim elf
al qasr
abu monologue non-duality rob feet are
parallel
diplomacy el director de el halfa illa
Ana dog non-member Anita's dear
Africa Fatiha well Hamid you cut the
radish area Eugenia filter alia be Holly
mohammed al hroub Nani jelly a toast
apart Allan Houston a lost rally the
topes and favor for a senatorial avocado
pie Sharia
wall dr. Cydia Wallace Mary a banal
paradigm water bill Theodore Allanon
Australia has a flow occur Mohammed
diplomacy adept Cydia latina malbim
little ha better Ivana Tom Mesereau her
Jia Li what rock you'll feel more
terrible wall no communal Lube Nanyang
jeden waheeda rehman handle most Arab
Inlet all wama kana Sanada rotten fish
Amir's oof
hiya partner Kabir ala Hamza me an enema
hallo wine a Meccano
alpha dog a rim shot kill Ketil
cause akiza SS eeeh the doctor saw the
lube nanny
wahoo 'no Awad the turkeys alum me at
Jamaica photographer Magellan al ly
stickman robots avocado durable Lumia
Allah mustafa ala me be my Osama
International Chamber house lasignac
Allison Anubis out of the clock young
hot air con una caja whatever you had
boon Osaka in LA cañada
had if illa dolorosa delude nanny madam
Abaddon enema you g do hesitate river
almoost Erica now wizard Hershiser Mejia
elite aziz with helical Katara's
leonardo farrell our side ah Tony Wilier
Koon Cara Lynn new Mousavi
- cool moonshine has a loofah al hi
Lammy Almohad ah a parochial force trail
moose tequila Wafaa Takanawa tan Maria
work to Sevilla West's Maria Australia
lassie Emma fricative toka quality car
what technology what alley
well bonnet idea was ha ha well a
mulatto that will mi casita teacher
Albania little v McWhorter Turkish
people then who had the de una away the
trash did another who had a thief Alma
who caught and let it wash it at WT
surely whilst smelly banal Bella Dean
come on what he added here at the fakir
Darwin Episode II was visually Letty
Tama a talky alaihe salam l stood Sam it
may not seen been alluding on Australia
Lulu Tico Belial Catalunya banal
Bernardin wanna we but now Elmo him
legit Allahu ta ala yasin alumna neol
Australia can look tot whistle - shriek
at a shock our surrogate min Kiril Bella
Dean while Molly had the
laughs Lotito old bill Farida al hroub
non-work to Saudi say that acidity
shockula lube nan and Miquelon ansible
mouthless marine was a leaker yes
Barbara de fátima cell beam on
choreography team on Takata charcoal
Assad wagon
bill yet Dominic a few a ballad
O'Farrell integer-valued Anita Kabir has
ill McCallum Ottawa to say him final a
boob man
Doron berezin fitter visualizer a la la
la la materia well MultiJet Alice to
Australia
voila Wow will Alizee still young letís
talkö Allah saw Selma Taha Minnesota to
use rocket de matar a probability jury
umbrellas Anatomy delay it Aziz Allah
orbit Vanunu new Australia well Musa
Hana Fatah tree
TJ rotten - area Las Malayalam Korea
Tanzer Veera beforethewars a lot
Walt's a lot Robitaille Lantau deja vu
dismiss affair mccoullough fizzle hesita
Cobden sousou-san modular Eugenia Kabira
famosa dual Harlem wale after an Malin
has ilmu by de varela little Michelle
Amalia the whole buffet Adele Harlow
Tony Alessio an ill-omened root are a
capital o Sadat Warwick it a La Nina
Lunetta wanna abyssal hood Allah SEMA
linda has yahuwah elohim in our norica
when a terminal and test a Camille has
yahuwah to stack mal has Yahoo - wha -
da Phil Imam ah to spare moon tiara wat
rongkhun
heatoman at academy taqdeer
regime abdullah men come in Kabul Saphir
strata filled nan mr. Glen miles
thank you
a la edamame fitori a la carte Mustafa
been burden or chuckle Akbar well kids I
Don Lorenzo Fertitta Alison Australia
Luke Nana fat uzuki as Civic our Inagua
Tijuana salty Guatemala California a
loose trolley a loop denia well here
animalizer
here on woman our McHale called at all
Jewish girl will Wazir a so weak and
mashite al-habib Ruben Bassel Elysee
Alessia Pumbaa move out there to check
kill wha ha ha ha resume ooh the CSE
wall dr. sadi well luckily me Alessia
issue whoo look man if you allow me if I
have time I could say two words two
minutes to me just two minutes just to
to give my modest opinion about what I
heard today from the panelists I want to
be clear on that level I'm always having
the same speech to all who's coming to
the Ministry of Economy Intuit it's time
now to invest in Lebanon as said fat
uzuki there is a saying in French that
says when a vesti us on the canoe we
invest at the sounds of cannons there is
no cannons in Lebanon we just need a
little bit of peace of mind the problem
is not the cows around us
it's the cows inside us and we should
find solutions bassoonists and people
like him can't find solution and the
soonest also so we are counting on young
ministers on initiatives to allow us to
reach safe shows the soonest I want I
just want to remind everyone that in
2006 growth was about 0.3% 0.3% in 2007
it reached 7.5%
in ten month time so Lebanese potential
Lebanese capacities are huge and which
we should take advantage of it today
expected growth for the next three
months they use excuse me is about 1.8
percent above average European average
so potential is here we should enjoy it
we should take advantage of it without
you we cannot do anything we are
counting also a new
counting on the diplomacy because
ministers and ambassadors comes and goes
what but what remains our businessmen so
let's give a huge applause to for uzuki
thank you very much
Oh
