Prime Minister Hassan Diab met on Tuesday morning with head of the Banking Association Salim Sfeir, in the presence of General Mohammad Kheir, Head of the Higher Rescue Committee, members of the Association Nadim Kassar, Chahdan Jbeily, Antoine Habib, and PM advisors Lina Oueidat and Mohammad Alamuddin. During the meeting, Sfeir offered the donation of 6 million dollars in the name of the Banking Association to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Salim Sfeir’s speech:
“Mr. Prime Minister
Excellencies,
Distinguished audience,
Today Lebanon is enduring a great national trial. Such trials can only be faced with solidarity and subsidiarity between the State and all the active forces in our society.
The banking sector has never failed to perform its duty to help the Lebanese State and people deal with tough times and get over painful hardships for the last few decades. Today, despite the difficult economic conditions in Lebanon, which have also turned into a global crisis, the banking sector is renewing its commitment to serve the people and ought to take every step that would contribute to alleviating their suffering.
The only way we will defeat this epidemic is to increase immunity, and we can only relieve the plight by national immunity Lebanon has acquired over time.
All Lebanese remember that the banking sector has contributed several times, in the modern history of Lebanon, to mitigating the effects of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and has stood by the State and the people in every crisis and ordeal the country have experienced.
Today, we publicly announce that the Lebanese Banking Association will contribute to the provision of medical and hospital equipment to treat people suffering from coronavirus, at a cost of about USD 6 million. We were keen on having this in-kind donation ready and delivered in a few days to the different governmental hospitals officially accredited as treatment centers.
It is with a strong sense of national duty that we are launching this initiative today, which is neither a charity nor a favor. There will be other initiatives in the next few days.
Mr. Prime Minister,
Trials can only be faced with solidarity, coordination and consultation between the government and the active and productive sectors of the society.
On this occasion, I pay tribute to the doctors and nurses who have been on the front lines of facing this epidemic.
I would also like to thank Dr. Lina Oueidat, Advisor of the Prime Minister, for engaging in communication and fruitful efforts to ensure that Lebanon gets the equipment in the best possible way and within a standard time frame.
Mr. Prime Minister,
We assure you that we will be at the side of the State institutions until we overcome this crisis. We pledge to the Lebanese people our commitment to placing the banking sector at the forefront of institutions seeking to restore normal life in the country and overcome the effects of the ordeal.
Therefore, we add our voice to yours in calling on the Lebanese to unite and support each other in order to overcome this difficult ordeal with the least possible human losses. Lebanese people are the real wealth of the nation. Everything else is just compensable.
May God protect Lebanon and the Lebanese people.”
Prime Minister’s speech:
“First of all, allow me to thank the Banking Association and its Chairman, Dr. Salim Sfeir, for this initiative, as well as the promise he made today that there will be other initiatives to face this creeping epidemic seeping into our nation.
Lebanon is enduring a distressing ordeal, and the Lebanese people are starting to feel the brunt of an accumulation of economic, livelihood and financial crises, in addition to the current coronavirus threat.
The current situation requires joint efforts, without unnecessary commotion and calculations. The whole country is under severe pressure, and no one can carry the burden of such pressure alone. Even the State, given its present potential, finds it difficult to fulfil its full obligations to its citizens. Therefore, we rely on the solidarity of the Lebanese society and cooperation with the State, for there is no recourse but to resort to the State being the sole incubator for all the people, without discrimination.
Today, we must rally around the State and its institutions, and strengthen its capabilities, since only the State confers immunity to the Lebanese against all viruses posing a threat to the nation's health, security or existence.
I take this opportunity to call on everyone to become more united and proactive in increasing the State’s resilience, so that it may form a protective wall for the Lebanese.
I thank the Banking Association as well as every good initiative standing with the State to save Lebanon.”