Speech of H.E. Mrs. Bahiya Hariri,
Minister of Education and Higher Education,
Honorary President of the Forum
In the Name of God Almighty and All Merciful
Our meeting today on the occasion of the 3rd New Arab Woman Forum held in Beirut embodies the pillars of the rebirth to which the Arab countries and the Arab nation aspire today. Each rebirth should be based on three elements: the first element is trust, trust in oneself, trust in one another, trust in the group and in the nation.
No progress and no rebirth have ever taken place throughout the past and modern history of man unless they were based on trust in its true meaning of the word. In other words, I want…and I can….and what I want, the other and the group also want… so together we can make it happen. The presence of our Arab sisters today in Lebanon is an expression of their deep trust in Lebanon and the Lebanese people, a trust that has contributed to enhancing the confidence of the Lebanese people in themselves, in their nation and in their capacity to face challenges, defeat their enemies and overcome their ordeals and crises.
Trust is the natural opening towards the second element correlated to any rebirth, namely that of stability. No progress and no construction can be made unless they are based on stability. We have all experienced the meaning of stability and the need for it in our nations and our countries. Because of the lack of stability we paid a high price in terms of progress, prosperity and development and in terms of loss of financial and human potential due to the suffering, wars, occupation and conflicts we went through, and that did away with the efforts of years of hard word undertaken by previous generations to lay the foundation for our rebirth and stability.
Today we are still living the repercussions of those crises and the wars they entailed, while there are still new as well as renewed conflicts threatening many Arab countries, reducing their potential and resources and threatening our future. Hence, we should consider the stability of our nations and countries as national and Arab aspirations and put it at the heart of our goals and concerns.
Stability lays the foundation for dialogue which in turn is the third key element of rebirth, progress and a better future. Through dialogue alone we can unify our awareness and we get to know each other better; we resort to others’ opinion, we identify our experiences and problems, we learn how to tackle them and to build a common space of collective awareness for our development, stability and progress. This dialogue, based on trust and stability should no doubt reach a practical stage that takes into account what is necessary, possible and better, for we should determine our priorities and necessities in an objective, serious and realistic way before moving to what is possible to be undertaken. In other words how these priorities and necessities can be achieved to become a launch pad towards the ultimate goal we yearn for… I mean by that a better life for our countries and our nation. This “better life” should be based on a precise knowledge of our human and natural resources, the best use of those resources, and their rebirth and empowerment in conformity with practical, scientific and innovative capacities in all fields in order to define accordingly the common responsibilities between the different constituents of the society and to establish a partnership between our nations, our private sector and our civil society on the basis of very defined responsibilities incumbent upon each constituent. We should not also elude our responsibilities casting the blame of a potential default on others. We have made this mistake throughout the decades, when we charged exclusively one group, namely the state, with the responsibility of reviving society while exempting ourselves from this responsibility.
The lack of trust in our potential, capacities, expertise, and private sector and civil institutions is a clear declaration of our impotence.
To consider the state as the sole responsible for the process of rebirth will create an impotent state. Therefore, the balance in the distribution of roles and responsibilities of the state, the private sector and civil society will contribute to creating a vital force, achieving what is necessary and possible and planning for a better future. Approaching all the issues from one perspective and at the same time without defining what is important and what is more important will hinder any progress towards defining the ultimate goal. Awareness, when it is responsible and participative, will allow our societies to move from mere claims to initiatives and achievements… Complaints only make people and official impotent.
Honorable assembly,
I am addressing you from this platform, being fully responsible as an Arab and Lebanese woman that respects the forum’s participants and organizers and strives to achieve the goal it was created for, to tell you that we need to transcend the stereotypes imposed on Arab women’s issues, forums and conferences that are usually a place of complaint, criticism, the airing of grievances, and demands. We need to go into a new era of full responsibility and partnership so that we reflect together with confidence upon the responsibility of promoting our societies, countries and nation, a responsibility that should be shared by all to fulfill our aspirations for a secure, stable and prosperous future, to overcome challenges and deficits, and to build a future worthy of our peoples, nation history and civilization.
In conclusion, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group on its 21st anniversary and to Al Hasnaa magazine on its 101st anniversary, for organizing this important forum.
I would like also to thank all participants whose presence is best proof of their trust in Lebanon and the Lebanese people and the country’s efforts to achieve stability so that Beirut remains a free space for dialogue, meetings and exchange of knowledge. Equally, I hope that we will meet in all the Arab capitals in an environment of security, stability and prosperity.
The Arab woman is making today a step forward with the 3rd NAWF and I hope we will meet again to take future steps together.
Thank you for your attention.
