BEIRUT - Industry Minister Joe Issa El Khoury launched a new Ministry of Industry digital platform for industrial licensing and certificates, allowing businesses to submit applications, track transactions, and access administrative services online.
The platform was developed in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with funding from the Government of Canada. The launch took place alongside the second Lebanese Industrial Exhibition at Beirut’s Seaside Arena.
Simplifying Industrial Procedures
The platform aims to replace paper-based procedures and in-person administrative transactions with electronic services, reducing the time and costs required for industrial businesses to obtain licenses and certificates.
Through the platform, applicants can submit requests electronically and monitor their progress, while an online directory helps users identify their industrial activity category and the services available digitally.
The initiative is part of broader efforts to advance digital transformation in public services, improve Lebanon’s business environment and support the recovery and competitiveness of productive sectors.
A Shift Toward Digital Administration
Speaking at the launch, Minister Issa El Khoury described the platform as more than a technological upgrade, saying it establishes a new approach to how the ministry delivers services to industrial businesses.
“Industrialists should spend their time in their factories, developing their products and expanding their businesses, not in ministry corridors chasing applications and signatures,” he said.
He added that the platform would provide simpler, faster and more transparent administrative procedures, with defined and predictable processing timelines.
The minister stressed that digital transformation should also strengthen transparency, accountability and good governance, allowing applicants to track every stage of their transactions and identify delays.
He also highlighted the need to modernize public administration alongside the industrial sector, questioning how Lebanon could expect its manufacturers to adopt the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution while the ministry continued to operate with the mindset of the First Industrial Revolution.
“Our responsibility as a government is to facilitate their work, not make it more complicated,” he said.
He added that the ministry sought to move from an administration dependent on individuals to one guided by clear rules, standardized procedures and measurable performance standards.
International Support
Canadian Ambassador to Lebanon Gregory Galligan welcomed the initiative, expressing Canada's support for the ministry's digital transformation efforts in partnership with UNDP. He said businesses need systems that enable them to succeed and described the platform as an important step in that direction.
UNDP Acting Resident Representative Thaer Shraidi said the launch should serve as a starting point for making efficient, transparent and accessible public services the standard across Lebanon's public institutions rather than the exception.
The launch was attended by European Union Cooperation Section Head in Lebanon Alessandra Viezzer, Director General of Industry Adel Chabab, Association of Lebanese Industrialists President Salim Zeenni, ministry officials, industrialists and sector experts.
