Shehayyeb Bans Produce from Syria, Amid Unsupportive Syrian Stances

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb issued a decision banning the entry of vegetable and fruit produce from Syria to Lebanon to “protect Lebanon's production,” which triggered negative responses from the Syrian side, As Safir daily reported on Thursday.

“We want to protect the Lebanese farmers and their produce in the face of the inflow of Syrian products, mainly during the month of Ramadan,” said Shehayyeb.

The Minster assured that if the Syrian side decided to take a negative decision that harms Lebanese interest, then Lebanon would be obliged to do the same.

“The Syrians use the Rafic Hariri International airport as a transit station to export their commodities. Several planes leave the airport on a weekly basis loaded with Syrian goods. I hope they do not take reckless measures so as not to push us to a decision to cut off this artery on the basis of reciprocity,” warned Shehayeb.

“We want to protect our national industry particularly that huge amounts of produce from Syria have drowned the market, which reflected negatively on the Lebanese farmer,” added the Minister.

“My decision will give the merchants a better opportunity to sell their produce inside Lebanon mainly after several Arab and Gulf markets stopped receiving it,” he added.

The Minister remarked that shall Syria issue a decision to close the border crossing for Lebanese trucks, “it would not affect us anymore because Syria is no more a conduit for most of the Lebanese products, after securing maritime alternatives,” he said.

The Syrian side did not like the step and considered Shehayyeb's move as a war that is being waged against it at different levels. Syrian authorities are even planning to escalate measures against Lebanon if the decision was not reversed, according to the daily.

For his part, Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali urged the minister to review his decision “for the interest of Lebanon and Syria.”

Syrian Ministerial sources told the daily that Shehayeb's decision will not pass without a response, noting that Syrian officials held successive meetings yesterday to study the options to counter the decision.

Lebanon's agricultural sector has suffered under the strain of the war in neighboring Syria, now in its sixth year. The Jordanian-Syrian border has been closed since 2015, freezing overland exports from Lebanon to the rich Gulf market, and causing a glut of agricultural produce in Lebanon.

Comments 2
Missing cedars 09 June 2016, 14:09

Great move from the minster. In America they stick to the buy American instead of Chinese. Why not eat apples from mount Lebanon. Is it cheaper no but if our farmers have no market then how will our citizens economy survive. Back in 1940s thru 2000 if the Syrian government did not like a decision from its Lebanese counterpart they used to close the borders and plenty of truck drivers used to sit for days if not weeks..only to learn that the Syrian gov always punishes us via shutting its borders every time our gov makes a decision without their orders.

Thumb shab 09 June 2016, 23:35

Good move. Now ban all flight to and from Syria