THE LAUNCHING CEREMONY

Under the auspices of Lebanese Minister of Culture, Dr. Tarek Mitri, the new E-Caravan-Phœnix project for South Lebanon was launched during a press conference on 9 April 2008 at 11:00 AM held at the Grand Serail. The project is initiated by “Fondation Saradar” in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, the Italian Cooperation for Development, Ross Program - Embassy of Italy, the UN-ESCWA, and the Canada Fund for local initiatives- Embassy of Canada.

The meeting was attended by the President of “Fondation Saradar” Mrs. Marie-Claude Saradar, the UN-ESCWA Executive Secretary, Mr. Bader Al Dafa, the Canadian Ambassador to Lebanon Mr. Louis de Lorimier, the Representative of the Italian Ambassador to Lebanon Ms. Daniela Tonon and the General Manager of Fondation Saradar, Mrs. Tania Helou. A quorum of diplomatic and media figures and a number of representatives of UN agencies in Lebanon were also invited to attend the event, in addition to figures from the private and public sectors and regional and international organizations.

Speeches were delivered by the Director General of the Ministry of Culture, Ambassador of Canada, the Representative of the Italian Embassy and Mrs. Saradar. Mrs. Tania Helou presented a PowerPoint demonstration to introduce the new E-Caravan-Phœnix project. The E-Caravan began operation on 12 April 2008 in Deir Qanoun el Nahr (Tyre caza).

The launching ceremony was widely covered by the media. Press articles were published in the leading local and Italian newspapers and several local, regional and European TV channels reported the event during their news broadcast or special shows.