Press conference of the Lebanese Private Sector Network on Nov. 21, 2024, Beirut. (Credit: The association)
The Lebanese Private Sector Network (LPSN), an association of Lebanese entrepreneurs and professionals, held a press conference in Beirut on Wednesday to present its roadmap for rebuilding the country, while U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was still in Lebanon before heading to Tel Aviv to try to achieve a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel.
On the economic front, the LPSN calls for the launch of an “internationally-led Marshall Plan” to rebuild Lebanon, along the lines of the one put in place by the United States to rebuild Europe at the end of the Second World War.
“The timing of this conference, two days before Independence Day, underlines our unwavering commitment to a Lebanon freed from the shackles of war, independent of external agendas and able to meet its needs through a productive and innovative economy,” said association president Rima Freiji.
On the political front, the LPSN is calling for the implementation of three U.N. Security Council resolutions: 1559 (of 2004, on the disarmament of militias), 1680 (of 2006, affirming Lebanon's sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence) and 1701 (which put an end to the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, but whose conditions have never been fully implemented).
The association also calls for the application of the 1949 armistice agreement, signed on March 23 of that year between Lebanon and Israel, which stipulates that no military or paramilitary element on land, sea or in the air may carry out any act of war against the neighboring country. It also calls for the election of a Lebanese president without delay, as the process has been blocked for over two years.
On the diplomatic front, the LPSN recommends restoring good relations between Lebanon and Arab countries, after years of roller-coaster relations marked by rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which supports Hezbollah.
The war that has pitted Hezbollah against Israel for over a year has claimed more than 3,500 lives, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, and caused more than $8.5 billion in damage and economic losses, according to a World Bank estimate.