“Facilitating Access to the Canadian Market” at the premises of the Chamber of Beirut & Mount Lebanon

The Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture of Beirut & Mount Lebanon organized a press conference on May 15, 2014 with the collaboration of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, Embassy of Canada in Lebanon and the Lebanese Canadian Business Association (LACBA).

Mr. Mohamed Choucair, Chairman of Beirut & Mount Lebanon Chamber, highlighted the historic tight ties between Lebanon and Canada and stressed out the need for closer collaboration to promote the trade and business correlation between the two countries to higher levels. 

Mr. Claude Boulos, president of LACBA, explained that the objective of this conference is to show the latent opportunities offered by the Canadian market. He added that the first immediate initiative consists of introducing the Lebanese wine into the Canadian marketplace; a leading step that would be optimistically followed by the penetration of various Lebanese promising sectors such jewelry and cosmetics.

H.E. Ambassador Mrs. Hilary Childs-Adams indicated that this year marked the 50th year of diplomatic relations between Canada and Lebanon expressing optimism when it comes to future bilateral relations between the two.  Lebanese businessmen, she added, have had huge success in Canada, through investing and building the country.

Minister of Economy & Trade Mr. Alain Hakim mentioned that with more than 350,000 Lebanese living in Canada, a large Canadian Lebanese Diaspora residing in Lebanon, one can only see large opportunities between the two countries. Nothing, the minister added, should justify the low volume of mutual trade and little number of joint investments.

The representative of Trade Facilitation Office Canada Mr. John Lang focused in his presentation on how to promote sustainable economic development through export information, advice and contact. He also presented reasons why Lebanese would choose Canada as a country to trade with and what made Canada the 11th largest import market in the world.

The conference was followed by a networking cocktail offered for this occasion at the Business Club of the Chamber.

http://www.ccib.org.lb/uploads/Exporting to Canada - Master Presentation - Lebanon Final_1.pdf