“That law has been approved in the Cabinet and I met with [Speaker] Nabih Berri and he promised me it will be in the first parliamentary meeting. That law will mean taxes on all Lebanese products that are exported will be reduced by 50 percent. We pay 15 percent on income tax and profits, but that will be reduced to 7.5 percent”
Caretaker Industry Minister Vrej Sabounjian in October 2012 on a bill to reduce export taxes to boost industry
“[The law] is in the parliament. It has been over seven or eight months in the parliament. I hope one day they meet again and finalize this law”
“[Lebanese industrialists must] help themselves first of all — don’t expect anything from anybody. We have learned the hard way with the situation today — when we see the public sector in complete paralysis, when we see one organization after another collapsing and going into a coma. I can describe the phenomena we are living in as a multiple organ failure in the public administration”
“It was a wake up call. We decided to go out [of Lebanon]. It was the best thing that ever happened to us. Thank you to the people that made war”
“IDAL is a very, very important support for companies in Lebanon. I was surprised they were very helpful, very professional, very nice people. If you want advice on the market they help”
“All our investment in Syria was completely destroyed. It is in Qaboon — an area that is no man’s land between the two factions there. Syrian industry is 80 percent destroyed and now you have 20 million to feed — they have to eat, they need everything”
“There is no fashion industry here today. But is there an eagerness for it? Absolutely. I will help it to develop. I think there will be opportunities to help designers develop and grow the industry”
