Hariri: France Satisfied with Investment Plan Progress

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri visits Beirut Port on Friday September 6, 2019. Dalati and Nohra photo
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri visits Beirut Port on Friday September 6, 2019. Dalati and Nohra photo
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Hariri: France Satisfied with Investment Plan Progress

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri visits Beirut Port on Friday September 6, 2019. Dalati and Nohra photo
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri visits Beirut Port on Friday September 6, 2019. Dalati and Nohra photo

French President Emmanuel Macron is satisfied with Beirut's progress on starting an infrastructure investment program, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's press office said on Friday, a day after a French envoy criticized the speed at which Lebanon is reforming its economy.

Foreign governments and donor institutions last year pledged $11 billion in financing to Lebanon for a 12-year infrastructure investment program at the CEDRE conference in Paris, on condition that it carries out reforms.

Hariri’s office said in a statement Friday that the PM received a telephone call from Macron, who “expressed his satisfaction with the progress made towards launching the CEDRE investment projects.”

Macron called Hariri after French diplomat Pierre Duquesne concluded a four-day visit to Lebanon to assess Beirut's progress on starting work on the infrastructure projects and other reforms.

Duquesne himself said that the donors' funding offers still stand, but stressed that Lebanese authorities need to speed up reforms, pass a state budget for 2020 this year and decide which of the 250 infrastructure projects will take priority.

"Donors are still ready to help, provided that things happen in the required and right way," he said.

Funding has not yet begun to flow, he said, because Lebanon was without a government for nine months following elections last year.

"And even after (government) formation, donors continue to question the Lebanese government. This view is shared by all donors," Duquesne said.

He was also critical of how some Lebanese politicians were approaching the urgency of the economic problems in the country.

"Some people still believe that there is a miracle solution, a magical solution to solve all the problems. This does not exist."

"Time is running out and we cannot continue with the endless debates," he added.

On Monday Lebanese politicians declared a "state of economic emergency” and Hariri said the government would take emergency measures to speed up reforms, including holding more meetings.

With one of the world's highest debt burdens, low growth and crumbling infrastructure, Lebanon's economy is struggling and authorities are seeking to implement reforms to ward off a crisis.

During Thursday’s phone call, “Macron also stressed France's commitment to Lebanon's stability and security, the strengthening of its state and institutions and the importance of preserving calm on the southern border,” Hariri’s office said.

The frontier between the two countries has remained calm since Israel and Hezbollah traded fire on Sunday.



China Increases Scrutiny of Rare Earth Magnets with New Tracking System

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with China's President Xi Jinping during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with China's President Xi Jinping during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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China Increases Scrutiny of Rare Earth Magnets with New Tracking System

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with China's President Xi Jinping during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with China's President Xi Jinping during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

China has introduced a tracking system for its rare earth magnet sector, three sources said, as its export restrictions on them begin to cut off customers around the world.

The national tracking system, which went into effect last week, requires producers to submit extra information online including trading volumes and client names, said two sources familiar with the matter and another briefed by those involved.

The world's largest rare earth magnet supplier and exporter, China in early April imposed export restrictions on seven medium to heavy rare earth elements and several magnets, requiring exporters to obtain licenses, Reuters said.

Delays getting approvals have upended supply chains for automakers, semiconductor companies and others, with global automakers already beginning to stop some production lines as reserves run out.

Beijing unveiled high-level plans to establish an information tracing system for rare earth products last June, but there had been no implementation until last week, according to the source briefed on the matter.

The added level of scrutiny suggests that China's export controls on rare earths and the associated magnets - where it has a near-monopoly on production - could become a permanent feature for the products.

There have been hopes in the US and elsewhere that this would be removed as part of a trade truce agreed in Geneva last month.

In previous cases where China has imposed export curbs on metals, exports have tended to slowly rebound after the imposition of restrictions as exporters apply and receive licenses.

"Our current hypothesis is that China would continue its export control mechanism on rare earths, as its an ace card for China to hold," said Tim Zhang, founder of Singapore-based Edge Research.

Beijing's long-term target is to track the whole rare earth production chain, not just magnets, strengthen its control over the sector, and crackdown on smuggling, illegal mining and tax evasion, according to a fourth source who was also briefed on the matter.