Lebanon

Project Strategy

The project strategy consists of providing support to the Ministry of Economy and Trade for effective and timely national policy-making as well as building institutional capacities for public sector management and control. The project will address two main sectors and their sub-divisions as follows:

1. In the context of Economic policy the initial focus will be on consumer protection, competition policy, insurance and real sector; and
2. In the context of Trade policy the project will concentrate on Trade information and networks, trade efficiency, and trade policy formulation in particular accession to WTO and the Euro-med partnership agreement.

In both of the above-mentioned sectors, the project will provide assistance towards:

1. Aid Coordination: Coordination of existing, emerging and needed technical and aid assistance in order to optimize results and reduce duplication
2. Policy support including review, analysis and formulation of relevant policies
3. Legislative support including the identification, drafting and adoption of modern legislation and regulations
4. Institution Building and strengthening public sector management
   
   a) Establishing and/or strengthening institutional bodies and frameworks
   b) Training and strengthening the human capacities in the Ministry
   c) Collection and dissemination of Information and economic data
   d) Modernization of systems and procedures through ICT towards enhancing exchange of information as well as improving efficiency and accountability

1. Advocacy and partnerships with the private sector, public sector agencies and civil society
2. Resource mobilization for the Ministry of Economy and Trade as needed to fulfill the objectives of the project and ensure sustainability
3. Negotiating and forging agreements at the regional and global level

The primary and immediate aim of this project is not to undertake a comprehensive restructuring of the Ministry of Economy but to strengthen the institutional capacities of the Ministry and assist in restoring operational capacity including immediate capacity building.

In order for the project to be successful, the support of the business sector will be mobilized. In addition, the project will closely cooperate with private sector organizations that have a bearing on trade: the Chambers of Commerce, the Association of Lebanese industrialists. Organization of communication strategies for public awareness campaigns on competition regulation, consumer protection, and trade will also have to be developed and implemented.

It will be important to introduce an element of flexibility to the project document to allow for adjustment to the focus of the assistance provided thus accommodating for changing policy priorities and TA requirements or fund mobilization.

To upgrade the skills of the existing and newly recruited MOET staff and to ensure the sustainability of project activities, training has been included as an integral part of this project. On-the-job-training, train-the-trainer programs, or seminars within Lebanon will have to be complemented by participation of Lebanese officials in seminars, study tours, training modules and internships abroad.

As noted in the section on prior and on-going assistance, the Project will, on behalf of the Minister of Economy and Trade, coordinate, monitor and/or manage aid assistance projects (EU, WB, UNIDO, UNCTAD, USAID). It will work closely with these on-going initiatives and will be responsible for ensuring the coordination of activities and initiatives in a way to avoid duplication, increase synergies, and promote results based management.