Recommendations
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Under the high patronage of H.E. Mr. Rafic Hariri, President of the council of ministers, represented by H.E. Mr. Ghassan Salame, minister of culture, the association Memory and Development held a symposium “The Development, Rise and Fall of Silk in the 19th and 20th Centuries in Lebanon”.
The minister of Culture congratulated the organisers of the symposium for their interest in this field which has a big importance in the ecological, social and economic fields. The minister of agriculture H.E. Mr. Ali Abdallah represented by the director at the ministry Dr. Adel Hajj, concluded the work of the symposium with the following words:
“Silk industry was very well established in Lebanon and it must be encouraged in order to remain one of our national symbols. I leave it to your symposium the job of one of the promoters of a feasibility study that will help to develop and modernise the national silk industry.”
Following the minister of agriculture’s speech and the diverse interventions of the participants in the symposium and since the silk sector is an interesting activity at various levels such as the environment, agriculture, artisanat and socio-economy, and since the activity encourages the farmer to stay on his land, discouraging migration to the city, and since sericulture can be considered as an agricultural activity which can replace that of the banned cultures and can constitute a raw material for the weaving artisanal national industries, it would be necessary to develop his sector with a futuristic optic, utilising the most modern means. On the basis of the above, the following recommendations were adopted:
Creating a follow up committee, the “Silk Committee” including representatives from the private and public sectors, whose objectives should be :
Starting a feasibility study both economic and technical covering the silk sector in Lebanon, starting with the mulberry trees, through to the yarn, production the weaving and artisanal activities. Taking into consideration the results of the above mentioned study, to review and reconsider the situation of the silk office within the ministry of agriculture under all its aspects, legal, administrative and eco financial.
19/10/2001
