by aawsat.com — Lebanese President Michel Aoun called on the need for everyone to be united and work within one team to achieve the ambitious goals of the national economic plan, which will be reflected in various economic, social and living issues. Aoun emphasized on Wednesday the need to implement the strategy for revamping the country’s economy, prepared by consulting firm McKinsey & Company. “The strategy is very important especially that it provides a coherent and comprehensive study for all productive sectors in the country aimed at reaching sustainable economic development,” Aoun was quoted as saying. President Aoun chaired a meeting attended by caretaker Economy and Trade Minister, Raed Khoury, Minister of Justice Salim Jreissati, Presidential Advisor Mireille Aoun Hashem, Advisor to the President of the Republic for Relations with the Gulf States, Dr. Fadi Asli, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Nadim al-Munla, and members of the global advisory group McKinsey & Company.

The President was briefed on the outlines of the “national economic plan” which has reached advanced stages. “We appreciate all the efforts exerted by the public and private sectors in addition to economists and academics to complete this strategy,” the president said. He praised, in this regard, the efforts of those who contributed to the development of the study including officials from the public and private sectors, economic experts and academics, according to NNA. He highlighted “Lebanon’s ability, represented by its economic sectors and its young energies, to create an attractive business environment for direct foreign investments, and to activate competitive sectors capable of promoting economic performance indicators, especially since the study describes the economic situation and challenges in accordance with the current reality, and puts priorities in their proper context, while putting forward the formation of mechanisms to implement the plan and monitor economic performance.” After the meeting, Minister Khoury held a press conference, in which he said “the aim of this meeting was to inform the President about the latest developments in the Lebanese economic plan which reached its final stages, in implementation of the decision taken by the Council of Ministers within the set deadline.”

The study has been completed and will be presented to Prime Minister-designate Hariri, before approval by the new government. “The five-year strategy will start once it is approved,” said Khoury, adding that the study focuses on productive sectors that will create more jobs in the country. The Minister explained that the presidency’s economic team and McKinsey crew worked closely with representatives from the public and private sectors and in coordination with parties, experts, economists and Lebanese academic and civil society members, so as to extrapolate from their experiences in their fields of work and their outlook for the achievement of sustainable development. The study also examines in depth the challenges and potentials of key productive sectors, agriculture, industry, tourism, knowledge economics, financial services, education, health care, real estate, construction, retail, trade, logistics, transport, communications, electricity, water and the role of expatriates in the economic performance as well as the effectiveness of urban planning.

In addition, the plan discusses Lebanon’s economic aspirations and means of achieving them through the adoption of the best international practices in terms of legislation and finance to reach a flexible economic environment capable of attracting foreign direct investment and unleashing the promising and sustainable sectors of production. The Economic Vision team also stressed that “the study will include recommendations on pivotal and urgent projects that will move the Lebanese economy forward and launch in the near future.” It also aims to turn Lebanon into a regional hub that provide outsourcing services of high quality. Khoury pointed out that Aoun expressed his support for this plan. The President also called for all parties concerned to work together and work as one team to achieve the ambitious goals of the plan, which are reflected on various economic and social issues that are of concern to citizens.