Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, chaired on Tuesday a meeting for the ministerial committee tasked with financial and economic reforms. Deputy Prime Minister Ghassan Hasbani and Ministers Ali Hassan Khalil, Wael Abu Faour, Mohammed Fneish, Youssef Fenianos, Salim Jreissati, Camille Abou Sleiman, Mansour Bteish, Mohammed Choucair, Saleh Gharib and Adel Afiouni and a number of advisors, attended the meeting.

Before the meeting, Hasbani said: "We believe that the reform issues and discussion support the budget, and part of them will have an impact on the 2020 budget. We all hear and feel the citizen's scream and should not delay the procedures. We should concentrate first on the reform articles. If the committee is unable to approve them rapidly, there will be no use of continuing these discussions.

The committees are formed to make quick decisions. We want to approve the budget and send it to Parliament within the constitutional deadline. There are many procedures that have to be implemented before completing the 2020 budget. This is why we will be very positive and will fully support all that Premier Hariri decides in today's discussion."

Separately, Hariri received a delegation from the Association of Lebanese Industrialists headed by Fadi Gemayel, in the presence of the Minister of Industry Wael Abou Faour, who said after the meeting: "We were honored to meet with Premier Hariri and it was an opportunity to review all the measures taken by the Lebanese government to support the industry in Lebanon. These measures became tangible and are giving results in the industry in Lebanon."

He added: "The Association of Industrialists and the Ministry of Industry conducted a preliminary survey of the number of job opportunities in Lebanese industries. So far, 3850 job vacancies have been counted in the industrial sector, at a time when there are many demands for economic measures to deal with the economic and social conditions. These are around 1850 job opportunities in specific sectors and factories. The other 2000 include 1500 in the clothes industry and 500 in the shoes industry. They will be posted on the website of the Association of industrialists".

For his part, Gemayel said: "We thanked Premier Hariri and the government for their interest in the industrial sector, which is a tool to activate the economy and create jobs for the youth. We started to see a ray of hope and we look forward for more opportunities so that the industry would be able to serve the Lebanese youth".

Hariri also received a delegation from the Democratic Gathering Bloc and the Socialist Progressive Party that included Minister Wael Abou Faour, MPs Henri Helou, Faysal Sayegh and Hadi Abul Hosn and officials from the party.

After the meeting, Abul Hosn said: "Discussions with Premier Hariri were objective, frank, direct and constructive, and we presented three papers. The first includes the economic vision and the reform proposals of the Socialist Progressive Party and the Democratic Gathering Bloc. The second contains observations on the 2020 budget, and the third paper contains proposals on the mechanism and the conditions book for the energy operators.

We discussed the contents of these papers, but what is more important is the immediate, radical and quick measures to start the reform steps before it is too late".

Asked if they are dissatisfied with what is happening in the government regarding the budget, he said: "We are part of this government and we will not disavow our role in participating in the government but there are discussions in the government and we have the right to express our opinion clearly and in a scientific and practical way."