E: Byblos Bank today is very active in addressing new markets. What are the most important developments and what are the reasons behind them? Three years ago, the bank set up a strategy to start focusing outside of Lebanon, because the economy of Lebanon is small and our bank is big compared to the size of the economy. Last year, we opened a bank in Sudan and have been doing very well together with our partners, the OPEC Fund and the Islamic Development Bank. Also, over one year ago, we applied for a banking license in Syria. Since the country is opening up slowly, we only got the approval to set up there in October 2004. In the meantime, we’ve been preparing ourselves, conducting training and putting systems in place to be able to open in Syria by the first quarter of 2005. Then we very recently got the approval
