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The Rachid Karameh International Fair of Tripoli (Lebanon) inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List

The World Heritage Committee meeting in an extraordinary session decided on Thursday to inscribe the Rachid Karameh International Fair of Tripoli (Lebanon) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Located in northern Lebanon, the Rachid Karameh International Fair of Tripoli was designed in 1962 by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer on a 70-hectare site located between the historic centre of Tripoli and the Al Mina port. The main building of the fair consists of a huge covered hall in the shape of a boomerang of 750 metres by 70 metres, a flexible space for countries to install exhibitions.

The fair was the flagship project of Lebanon’s modernization policy in the 1960s. The close collaboration between Oscar Niemeyer, the architect of the project, and Lebanese engineers gave rise to a remarkable example of exchange between different continents. In terms of scale and wealth of formal expression, it is one of the major representative works of 20th century modern architecture in the Arab Near East.

The World Heritage Committee used an emergency procedure to inscribe the site, due to its alarming state of conservation, the lack of financial resources for its maintenance, and the latent risk of development proposals that could affect the integrity of the complex.

The site was therefore inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, which opens access to enhanced international assistance both technical and financial.

Emirates offers Lebanon passengers extra baggage allowance for ‘goods and medicines

Dubai’s Emirates airline will provide extra baggage allowance to passengers traveling to crisis-hit Lebanon until September 30, Emirates announced in a press statement on Wednesday.

Travelers will be able to check in an extra ten kilograms as “Lebanon [is] experiencing a severe shortage of essential goods and medicines,” the statement said.Passengers booking tickets from the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Australia will be offered the extra baggage allowance.

An economic crash in October 2019, exacerbated by a massive explosion in Beirut’s port and the COVID-19 crisis, has led to electricity, food, and medical supply shortages in the Mediterranean nation.

Blackouts have swept Lebanon as the fuel oil used to generate electricity has disappeared from the market.

The US is working with the World Bank and the governments of Egypt and Jordan to meet Lebanon’s fuel and energy needs, Washington’s ambassador to Beirut revealed in an interview with Al Arabiya English on Thursday.

Many say living conditions are worse than during the 1975-90 civil war.

Emirates set up a “humanitarian airbridge” with Lebanon following the port explosion in August 2020, which it says helped to deliver 160 tons of medical supplies, food, PPE, and other items.

Lebanon has a large diaspora in the Arabian Gulf and further afield.

INTER CAMPUS LEBANON ORGANISES TRIPOLI TOURNAMENT VISIT

BEIRUT – One of the primary objectives of the Inter Campus project, aside from restoring the right to play to children living in adverse social situations, is to create stable, trusted relationships with parents and families.

This is a fundamental part of the educational side of our mission – to allow young people to grow and develop through play while sharing sporting values.

Thanks to these strong relationships with parents, the coaches at Inter Campus Lebanon were able to organise a wonderful day for girls from the Shatila refugee camp, who took part in the second edition of the Tripoli women’s tournament – wearing the black and blue of Inter, of course.

The event was not just an opportunity for the girls to have some fun – but it was also a rare chance to leave the Shatila camp for Palestinian refugees behind and get away from a place where no child should ever have to reside.

Arab Contractors Company to develop Lebanon’s Tripoli port: Egyptian ambassador to Beirut

Egypt's ambassador to Beirut Yasser Elwi during his visit to the port of Tripoli on Thursday (Photo: Egyptian Embassy in Beirut)
Egypt’s ambassador to Beirut Yasser Elwi during his visit to the port of Tripoli on Thursday (Photo: Egyptian Embassy in Beirut)

Egypt’s Arab Contractors Company has won a bid to develop Tripoli port and its facilities, Egypt’s Ambassador to Lebanon Yasser Elwi announced on Thursday.

The ambassador made the announcement during his visit to the port in north Lebanon, where he was received by head of the port Ahmed Hatem and a number of senior Lebanese officials.

He added that this step reflects Egypt’s keenness on supporting Lebanon on all levels, especially developing its ports.

This will be followed by a number of projects to enhance Egypt’s economic presence in Lebanon, especially in the fields of technology and expertise exchange in Tripoli city, the ambassador added.

Hatem hailed Egypt for providing financial and technical aid to the Lebanese port sector after the blast that destroyed Beirut port in 4 August 2020.

Source: Ahram – https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/417991.aspx

Egyptian company to expand Lebanon’s Tripoli port

BEIRUT, July 29 (Xinhua) — Egyptian Ambassador in Lebanon Yasser Alawi announced on Thursday that the Arab Contractors, an Egyptian construction company, will start within two months a 28-million-U.S. dollar project for expanding Tripoli’s port in northern Lebanon, the National News Agency reported.

The project will be financed through a loan by the Islamic Development Bank after completing all legal papers between the bank and the company.

Lebanon’s Tripoli Port Director Ahmed Tamer said that the project will cover the administration buildings, container storage areas, and the completion of roads and infrastructure construction. It will expand storage areas, secure logistic areas and four new warehouses. Enditem

Lebanon’s Tripoli port readies to fill in for blast-hit Beirut

TRIPOLI: Lebanon’s northern port city of Tripoli is readying its harbor to temporarily replace that of Beirut, which was leveled in last week’s massive explosion, officials said Thursday.
Tripoli port’s capacity is smaller than the capital’s, through which the vast majority of Lebanon’s food and other imports used to transit.
A fire at Beirut port on August 4 caught a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate, causing an explosion that devastated swathes of the city and killed at least 171 people.
Immediately after the disaster, Lebanon’s Supreme Defense Council ordered that the port of Tripoli be prepped for “import and export operations.”
“The port of Tripoli can stand in for Beirut on a temporary basis, for the time it will take it to be operational again,” Tripoli port director Ahmad Tamer told AFP.
The smaller ports of Saida and Tyre can also contribute to the effort but their capacity is limited and does not allow for bigger vessels to dock.
Lebanon relies on imports for 85 percent of its food needs and the UN’s World Food Programme has warned that the destruction of the main port could worsen an already alarming situation.
Lebanon’s economic collapse in recent months has seen it default on its debt, sent the local currency into free-fall and poverty rates soaring to near third world levels, all amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tamer said seven ships that were on their way to Beirut on the day of the gigantic explosion immediately rerouted to Tripoli, where they unloaded their cargo.
Tripoli had already undergone major upgrade works in order to accomodate increased traffic expected in connection with the reconstruction effort needed in neighboring, war-ravaged Syria.
Tamer said that before the explosion Tripoli port was only functioning at 40 percent capacity, processing two million tons of imports per year, with a capacity to absorb a maximum of five million tons.
The port director said that he wanted to launch a plan to increase work at the port and hire more employees in order to process more than its current rate of 80,000 containers a year.

Source : ARABNEWS

https://arab.news/n7ky6