Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud speaks to Al-Manar Website: we will continue reform until end despite pressure.

Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud to Al-Manar Website:
Preventive Wars Target Us… We Won’t Surrender!
We Would Be Proud to Be in Hezbollah’s Gov’t…
We Will Continue Reform until End despite Pressure
Revenge and Discrimination Have No Place within Majority
LF Chief Samir Geagea’s Claims Only Wishful Thinking

Tourism Minister in the Lebanese government Fadi Abboud said that the new Cabinet was productive. He noted that all claims against the government were part of what he called ‘preventive wars’ against it by the “other bloc”, referring to the March 14 group.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Manar Website, Abboud said that “revenge and spite are not on the Change and Reform bloc agenda, and this goes for new majority in general. He pointed out that the attempts to pressure the Cabinet to end the reform path would fail.

Abboud ruled out the possibility of facing major problems in drafting the Cabinet’s ministerial statement. He spoke of a semi-accord on the statement’s main headlines, and said that the majority of the ministers agreed that the ministerial statement should be brief and concise. He stressed the new Cabinet would not seek to break Lebanon’s international commitments.

The tourism minister also announced a number of projects that would see light in the coming few months. He noted that the delay in achieving projects was caused by the “malicious practices that were always adopted by the other bloc”.

WHY DID SYRIA WAIT SO LONG TO FORM CABINET?
Minister Abboud told Al-Manar Website that the new government was, in brief, the government of productivity. “This government is a productive Cabinet, which actually reflects the parliamentary majority as well as the popular majority,” he said as he expressed belief that the Cabinet’s birth had a positive impact on the general situation in the country.

The Free Patriotic Movement minister spoke of what he called ‘preventive wars’ targeting the government. “Classifying the government as a Hezbollah Cabinet is part of this campaign”, he noted. “If this was a Hezbollah government, we would be proud to be part of it…But these are mere lies,” he said.

The March 14 bloc has given Miqati’s government many names, although the President, Michel Sleiman, stressed is was pure Lebanese. Of these names, Hezbollah’s government, the black government, Syria’s government, the stone age government…

Abboud said this was too silly, and expressed belief that the Lebanese cannot fall for such claims anymore. “If Syria had formed the Lebanese government as they are claiming, then why did it wait until today to form it? What prevented Syria of forming the government three or four months ago?” he wondered.

Abboud concluded that the ‘preventive wars’ launched against the government were very clear. “No one believes their claims and lies,” he said. “These are attempts to incite the west and the foreign embassies against us…and this is not patriotic.”

THEY’RE SEEKING TO PRESSURE US… WE WON’T SURRENDER
Minister Abboud rejected attempts to justify preventive wars with claims of fear and of vexatious practices that could be adopted by the new government. One day earlier, the Future party warned against what it called vengeful practices, and vowed to face them with unwavering resistance.

Abboud said these unfounded claims constituted the peak of the aforementioned preventive wars. “We don’t need such kind of spiteful and vengeful practices,” he emphasized. “All what we’re seeking is to achieve reforms and fight corruption. What’s happening, however, is a preventive war seeking to pressure us in order to prevent us of carrying out anything serious towards reform.”

The FPM minister asserted that the new government “intends to proceed with the reform path until the end”. He pointed in this context to President Michel Sleiman’s speech, during the Cabinet’s first session. Sleiman tackled a report published in The Economist, which shows that getting a building permit in Lebanon could take only two weeks or a whole year, according to the bribes the applicant is willing to pay. “That’s it. Administrative procedures in Lebanon are the worse in the region.”

NO MAJOR OBSTACLES IN DRAFTING POLICY STATEMENT
Turning to the policy statement, Minister Abboud seemed to be optimistic. “Claims that the mentioned statement could torpedo the government, as Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea claimed, only reflect wishful thinking”, Abboud pointed out.

He said the majority of the ministers had already agreed to the policy statement’s main headlines. Abboud added that the ministers were convinced that the statement should be brief and concise.

During the Cabinet’s first session, a committee for drafting the policy statement was formed. It includes Ministers Charbel Nahhas, Shakib Qartabawi, Ali Kanso, Ali Hasan Khalil, Mohammad Safadi, Nazem Al-Khouri, and Wael Abu-Faour.

Asked about the government’s foreign policy, given that some western states have linked their stance from the government to the content of the policy statement, Abboud said that the new majority was clear in this regard. “We’ve already confirmed that we don’t seek to break Lebanon’s international commitments,” he said. “All other claims come in the context of the preventive wars launched against us.”

He accused the ‘other bloc’ of seeking to create problems with the West. “This would serve their tendency to obstruct,” he said, as he accused March 14 of inciting the international community against the new majority, and the economic sector. He noted, however, that “economic experts in the government, including PM Najib Miqati, are very aware of the game of the economics perceive that exposing Lebanon to any threat at this current stage is not possible”.

TOURISM PROJECTS IMMINENT
At the end of his interview with Al-Manar Website, the tourism minister seemed enthusiastic about his second term in a row as minister of tourism. He said he had many projects that needed to be signed. Apparently, Many of Abboud’s projects were kept in drawers under the premiership of Saad Hariri. “The delay in achieving these projects was caused by the malicious practices of the bloc, which is accusing us today of adopting a policy of vengeance,” he explained.

Abboud then detailed the projects he was preparing for his ministry. “We will have an effective tourism police force and we’re seeking to expand the administrative system. We will establish a data network in the ministry, lay the ground for an exhibition center in Dbayyeh as well as a number of coffee shops at all borders, and not only in the Masnaa region (border with Syria). We are also seeking to turn the airport to a more effective utility, to expand the partnership with the private sector and to revive the national council for touristic development”.

“God willing, these projects will see light in a few months,” the tourism minister vowed.