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<p class=articletext><b><font size=1 color="#9c0b0b" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:7.5pt;color:#9C0B0B;font-weight:bold'>Friday, January 06, 2006</span></font></b></p>
<p class=articletext><b><font size=2 color=black face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Lebanon's elusive place
under the sun</span></font></b></p>
<p class=articletext><span class=blue31><b><font size=1 color="#000066"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>By Fady Abboud</span></span></font></b></span></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>I have had a nightmare with my eyes wide open. It was
brutal and unrelenting... without even a monster in sight. I thought that the
holiday period would provide an opportunity for relaxation and some enjoyable
reading. In fact, it has had the exact opposite effect. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>When we slow down from our regular
working-day pace, we tend to see things a little more clearly. Our national
deficiencies hit us straight in the face. Similarly, when we read about the
world around us, we inevitably find chinks in our economy's armor ... too many
chinks, unfortunately. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>While the rest of the world is
steaming purposefully ahead, we, in Lebanon, have spent the last few weeks
discussing among ourselves how to start a dialogue... among ourselves. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Meanwhile, Brazil and Turkey, for
example, which used to be considered economic basket-cases about 20 years ago,
are both remarkably well-managed today, with inflation in single digits and
growth above 5 percent. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Fareed Zakaria, of Newsweek, says
that "this shift is happening all over the world. From Thailand to South
Africa to Slovakia to Mexico countries are far better managed economically than
they have ever been." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Zakaria, writing in Newsweek's
yearly Special Edition "Issues 2006," goes on to say that "even
in cases where political constraints make it difficult to push far-reaching
reforms, as in Brazil, Mexico or India, governments still manage their affairs
sensibly." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Zakaria claims these improvements in
economic management are due to "knowledge" and that "a
knowledge-based world will be a healthier and richer world." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Thomas Friedman, also writing in
Newsweek's Special Edition, agrees with Fareed Zakaria's premise. He says that
knowledge is more important today "as a source of both economic advantage
and military strength." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Friedman says that "it is no
surprise, therefore, that those societies with the most innovative scientists,
universities, engineers and technology companies ... have enjoyed rising
standards of living over those societies without them." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>He says that knowledge has shifted
the global power game from a </span></font>military<font size=1><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'> race into "a race for IQs. The more knowledgeable
workers your country has... the more productive your economy and, therefore,
the more powerful your country." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Quoting the chief executive of
Rolls-Royce, Friedman writes that in today's world, "<b><u><span
style='font-weight:bold'>we will speak less and less about developed,
developing and underdeveloped countries but more and more about smart, smarter
and smartest countries</span></u></b>." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>How smart is Lebanon by comparison? </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Maybe Tony Blair could help us
answer this question which is at the root of my eyes-wide-open nightmare that I
mentioned at the beginning of this article. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>In the same Newsweek Special
Edition, Britain's prime minister writes that "complaining about
globalization is as pointless as trying to turn back the tide." He says
that there are no such debates in China. "They [the Chinese] are not
worrying about potential threats but are busy seizing the opportunities ... So,
too, are the other emerging economies in Asia and South America." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Blair says that "<b><u><span
style='font-weight:bold'>there is no secret recipe for economic success. The
difficulty is getting all the right ingredients in place.</span></u></b>
Successful countries need a stable economic framework so firms, and families,
can plan with confidence. They need open markets, strong encouragement of
enterprise with labor-market flexibility to foster dynamism and adaptability.
And, more important today than ever, <b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>they
need sustained investment in science, education and lifelong learning to make
the most of the skills and talents of all their people - to create, in fact,
true knowledge economies.</span></u></b>" </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>The prime minister claims that the
fastest-growing cities in America and Europe are those with the highest
proportions of knowledge workers. But, he warns that, compared to America,
"on any relative index of a modern economy - skills, R&D, patents, IT
- Europe is falling behind." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>In order to put the breaks on
Britain's perceived slide, Blair says that his government is "encouraging </span></font>investment<font
size=1><span style='font-size:9.0pt'> in R&D through new </span></font>tax
help<font size=1><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>, and have given extra support
to small businesses. We have also put sustained investment into education. We
have massively expanded, in partnership with business, modern apprenticeships
and workplace learning initiatives. Through the training and opportunities
available in our New Deal program, we have virtually eliminated long-term youth
unemployment." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>He continues that Britain is "<b><u><span
style='font-weight:bold'>investing unprecedented amounts in modernizing science
laboratories, and building links between our universities and business through
new science parks.</span></u></b>" </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Blair concluded that "this
emphasis on enterprise, on education and skills, and partnership is central to
our ambition of boosting social mobility, tackling poverty, and spreading
prosperity." </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Singapore's prime minister, Lee
Hsien Loong, on the other hand, says that his country has "a long
tradition of gathering and trading goods, including knowledge. But in the next
phase, we must move beyond gathering and managing knowledge to emphasize
creating our own knowledge." In order to do this, <b><u><span
style='font-weight:bold'>Singapore is doubling R&D investments over the
next five years</span></u></b>. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Lee concludes that
"globalization will force nations to reallocate resources, restructure
their economies and reorient their societies for the future." He says
that, in Singapore, "we are remaking ourselves into a key node in the
knowledge network, securing our place under the sun." <b><u><span
style='font-weight:bold'>I cannot help but remember that, 35 years ago,
Singapore wanted to learn from Lebanon how to shape its economy.</span></u></b>
</span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>Given the breathtaking developments
in the world that I described above, how do we rate Lebanon's readiness to
seize the opportunities presented by globalization? I'll let the reader give
the mark. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>When we consider the increasingly
central role that "knowledge" is playing in "smart, smarter and
smartest countries," how do we rank Lebanon's initiatives concerning
universities, laboratories, science and math education, innovation and R&D
investment? Again, I'll let the reader do the ranking. The manner in which
Lebanese politicians treat our national university may be indicative of the low
esteem in which "knowledge" is held in this country. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext lastVisited=0 roundtrip=0><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt'>How can we fill the vacuum in
strategic thinking that exists? Many of us hoped that the EU-Lebanon
Association Agreement would point us in the right direction, but the pace of
reform and change has been painfully slow. Nevertheless, we still believe that
EU-funded programs such as Lebanon's Quality Program - QUALEB and the
Euro-Lebanese Center for Industrial Modernization - ELCIM, could help the
private sector to modernize and upgrade, as competition is increasingly moving
away from prices toward quality. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>We are confident that <b><u><span style='font-weight:
bold'>QUALEB will help the Association of Lebanese Industrialists to create an
R&D Center and Incubator at ALI's premises in the Port of Beirut. R&D
and innovation do not have to be the exclusive preserve of hi-tech industries,
such as rocket science or the aerospace industry. They could also be helpful in
product development relating to our cuisine, which is witnessing a boom in
worldwide consumer demand.</span></u></b> </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>Innovation, design, and entrepreneurship are not really
alien to our graduates, <b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>but they need
encouragement and facilities, such as incubators, where they could unleash
their talents</span></u></b>. ALI's proposal is ready, but the Beirut Port
Authority seems to have better projects for our export center! Lebanon is lucky
in a sense because the last word in this matter is for Minister Mohammad
Safadi, who is a firm believer in promoting knowledge and creative employment,
as he has demonstrated in his own educational and charitable foundations. I must
also point out that the decision to subsidize rents in government buildings is
with the Finance Ministry. <b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>Minister Jihad
Azour is pushing the private sector to create a think tank to promote
entrepreneurship</span></u></b>. I am sure we will adopt our efforts. The
Economical Associations in Lebanon canny some of the blame too! We should be
doing much more, give us the chance and we will. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>It may be an unfair comparison, but reading about Tony
Blair's and Lee Hsien Loong's ideas, strategies, policies, foresight and
long-term planning, how do our own politicians fair? I'm tempted to help the
reader reach an answer, but I will keep my thoughts to myself. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>In the country that prides itself in its human
resources (Lebanon's oil, bla bla bla), what can we say when we reflect on the
fate of Lebanon's youth, as far as unemployment and emigration are concerned?
When India and China are managing to attract expatriate and emigrant scientists
to come back from Europe and the States, should it not be a capital crime to
allow Lebanese youth to leave this country? Can we continue to allow our
country to lose the "race for IQs?" </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>Equally importantly, in the country that promotes
itself as a modern-day Garden of Eden, how can we forgive those who have ruined
our environment? It is said that we cannot do damage to the Earth without
damaging ourselves and, that what affects nature affects all of us - there are
no real walls between us. In light of this, <b><u><span style='font-weight:
bold'>is it excusable for the government not to have an alternative-energy
policy, based on solar and wind technologies</span></u></b>? <b><u><span
style='font-weight:bold'>Is it excusable to forbid environmentally friendly and
cost-efficient hybrid (dual-engine) cars because a 1930s law bars importing
them to Lebanon</span></u></b>? In the name of the environment we close all our
quarries, thereby increasing the price of sand and gravel by more than 300
percent and then issue licenses for the lucky ones! They are lucky according to
Lebanese standards, because they found the right partners. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>When we consider the lack of foresight, long-term
planning and productivity in Lebanon, because, among others, <b><u><span
style='font-weight:bold'>we are busy discussing among ourselves how to start a
dialogue among ourselves</span></u></b>, is it any wonder that I am having
nightmares during the holidays and in the middle of the day? I feel like being
in Europe in the 18th century. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it
is becoming faint. I hope 2006 to be the year to remind all of us that we are
now living in the 21st century. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><b><u><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-weight:bold'>How can Lebanon find its place under
the sun with a national agenda that includes only one single item: discussions
between religious factions about a "national" dialogue among ...
sectarian factions</span></font></u></b><font size=1><span style='font-size:
9.0pt'>? I know the Lebanese deserve much, much better. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>How can we make our politicians and policymakers read
the International Herald Tribune (instead of Syrian newspapers) so they could
find out, among others, that <b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>Intel, the
world's largest chip maker (not the potato type, for those in Lebanon who are
not tech-savvy), is </span></u></b></span></font><b><u><span style='font-weight:
bold'>investing</span></u></b><b><u><font size=1><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-weight:bold'> $3.5 billion to build a new factory in Israel. Intel already
employs 6,000 workers in Israel, and with the new factory, the number will go
up to 8,000. The Israeli government offered Intel $525 million worth of
incentives in order to encourage the company to invest in Israel.</span></font></u></b><font
size=1><span style='font-size:9.0pt'> </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>While we're on the subject of Israel, let me inform our
policymakers (if they are not too busy reading informative regional newspapers)
that <b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>Israel's high-technology sector
generates more than $13 billion of annual exports, or about 40 percent of
Israel's total exports. Furthermore, Israel has about 70 companies listed on
the Nasdaq Stock Market in the U.S</span></u></b>. </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>In light of these developments, is it legitimate to ask
where is Lebanon's "index of a modern economy - skills, R&D, patents,
IT?" Where are the government's policies for "sustained investment in
science, education and lifelong learning to make the most of the skills and
talents of" all Lebanese people. Where is our own New Deal to eradicate
youth unemployment (which <b><u><span style='font-weight:bold'>stands at about
70 percent according to the EU</span></u></b>)? </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>Where is Lebanon's purposeful national dialogue which
leads us to reorient our society for the future ... and not the past? Who will
lead the Lebanese and encourage them to create their own knowledge, rather than
keep importing beyond our means? </span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>My nightmare is coming back ... I feel the gap between
Lebanon and other countries, friendly and not so friendly, is widening to the
point of no return. It is urgent for the Lebanese to rely on their own efforts
in order to fuel growth, create jobs and chart pathways to economic prosperity.
</span></font></p>
<p class=articletext><font size=1 color="#2a2a2a" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt'>I hope that this article acts as a wake up call for
Lebanese policy-makers. They urgently need to start focusing their minds and
energies on the issues, policies and initiatives that need to be addressed and
enacted in the days and months ahead, to ensure that Lebanon's economy is
well-equipped for the challenges of the "knowledge economy." They
need to build Lebanon's comparative advantages, enhance competitiveness and
improve productivity, so that our country's energies are unleashed to achieve
the economic growth necessary for creating new jobs and improving the living
standards of all citizens.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><i><font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-style:italic'>Fady Abboud</span></font></i></b></strong><em><i><font
size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:9.0pt'> is the president
of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists. He wrote this commentary for </span></font></i></em><strong><b><i><font
size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-style:italic'>The
Daily Star.</span></font></i></b></strong></p>
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