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Dinner Speech by Mr. Giscard El Khoury, Charge d’Affaires of Lebanon to Australia





Dinner Speech by Mr. Giscard El Khoury, Charge d’Affaires of Lebanon to Australia

The dinner speech of Mr. Giscard El Khoury, Charge d’Affaires a.i. of Lebanon to Australia, given in Maroun Center /Lady of Lebanon church in Melbourne on Friday 13/5/2016.

Ladies and Gentlemen

A very good evening to all of you, and thank you for coming. It is my pleasure to be here tonight to be part of this enjoyable dinner with such wonderful people. Seeing all of you here makes me so proud and yet so humble.

I wish to thank Mr. Claude Werden for hosting and organizing this event. To those who may not know it, Mr. Claude is a friend of mine and a cousin.

I would also like to acknowledge that we are here at our Lady of Lebanon church, so I extend my respect and high consideration to the leadership of this church, the Maronite church.

When I was told that I would be sent to Australia, I felt delighted. This great country has a special meaning, a special allure, we Lebanese are so fond of it, that to be posted here is of such high honor and prestige.

Ladies and Gentleman

Sharing bread and food with each other is a symbol of deep friendship. It is about reaching out, relating, connecting, smiling, laughing and remembering. It is a whole experience of joy, of communion, of true community. So let us be thankful and savor this moment; and as we do that also remember our loved ones back in Lebanon and reach out to them at this moment at least in our thoughts.

Just a week ago, I was in Beirut attending the Lebanese Diaspora Energy Conference LDE, where many Lebanese expats from all over the world participated. LDE, many of you have probably heard of, is a yearly event hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lebanon since 2014. It aims to highlight the potential of the Lebanese Diaspora as it provides them with the platform to have a say in the shaping of Lebanon foreign policy on migration.

LDE is also an avenue for migrants to reconnect with the mother land and celebrate their Lebanese heritage. It allows them to discuss more issues of interest, and explore more areas of cooperation. A fairly big delegation from Australia was also there and they made valuable presentations, and also representations on behalf of the wider community. Hopefully next year the participants from Australia are much more than this year’s number.

There are many projects launched by the Ministry through the conference, which you can know of by visiting the website lde-leb.com, but two mains are of utmost importance:

The first is the law on the restoration of the Lebanese citizenship to those who, for a reason, lost it. And here we need your kind assistance to reach out to those on that. We are afraid that if we, Lebanese, keep losing our citizenship, some others will undoubtedly fill in the blanks, and we will not be happy to see that.

The second is an app, Lebanon-Connect that you can download to connect with Lebanese from all over the world. The app is an important step towards creating a worldwide Lebanese network.

Ladies and Gentlemen, my fellow Lebanese,

You are so important to us, and in Lebanon we are so proud of you. Since taking the helm of the Foreign Ministry, Minister Gebran Bassil made it a point to show every interest in every Lebanese expat and migrant. He ordered a change in the Ministry’s official logo to incorporate a clear and direct recognition of the Lebanese migrants who are to be found everywhere. The new logo reads as “the world is our limit”.

And here I find it convenient to end with a quote of his:

“We are Lebanese… we are bound by our libanity… maybe we have branches everywhere, but our roots remain in the land of Lebanon.”

I might add, keep irrigating these roots.

Thank you


 














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