The Partnership for Lebanon (PFL), an organization focused on creating sustainable social and economic growth in the region, recently hosted an event highlighting the creation of several new initiatives by some partner organizations. The event brought together Lebanese business sector leaders, economic organizations, various governmental entities, press and partners. Cisco Systems and Intel Corporation were a few of the organizations on hand to present the new programs.
Cisco Systems and Relief International announced the Cisco Rural Enterprise Development for Information in Technology (CREDIT) program to promote Information Communications Technology (ICT) and reduce the digital divide between urban and rural areas. With Cisco Systems’s support, Relief International is providing a loan of USD $1Million to Lebanon’s two most prominent microfinance institutions, Al Majmoua and Ameen, to offer access to capital for the ICT sector. Their goal is to create businesses that contribute to community and economic development in Lebanon’s rural and underserved areas. By the end of the three-year program, Cisco may convert this loan into a grant.
Cisco also announced a collaboration with Hariri Foundation-a Lebanese education organization-which will support the Lebanese government’s focus on building a reliable ICT infrastructure by connecting 50 schools via a National Education Network (NEN) to the Ministry of Education. The NEN will allow for wireless connectivity and a high speed network which will help schools share limited resources and to promote the development of online teaching materials.
Another announcement was that Intel Corporation Middle East will be donating a second telemedicine system. The telemedicine system will be located at Saint Georges Hospital in Ashrafieh and linked to a governmental hospital in Kobeiat in the North. The Telemedicine systems provide the hospitals with real-time video consultation between physicians who are kilometers apart, and the ability to share data and to diagnose patients from afar.
Lila Ibrahim, General Manager, Emerging Markets Group, Intel Corporation Middle East Corporation, said: “we are providing better healthcare so lives are saved, modernizing education tools for students to have more opportunities in the global economy, and developing the technology infrastructure for entrepreneurs to grow business within and outside the country.”
The Partnership for Lebanon was established by U.S. business leaders in September 2006 to assist with reconstruction efforts in Lebanon and to help the Lebanese people find the path to long-term stability and economic growth. The PFL’s leadership includes Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Corporation, Craig Barrett, Chairman, Intel Corporation, John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems, Yousif Ghafari, Chairman, GHAFARI, and Dr. Ray Irani, Chairman, President and CEO, Occidental Petroleum
Corporation. The PFL focuses on five areas critical to creating sustainable social and economic growth in the region including: information communication technology (ICT) infrastructure; job creation/private sector revival; connected communities; workforce training; and crisis relief and response.
Scott Everett, Research Assistant
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