Al-Habtoor Group glad to be part of Lebanon's rebirth

BEIRUT: United Arab Emirates real-estate development tycoon Khalaf al-Habtoor, chairman of Al-Habtoor Group, insisted Wednesday his firm will expand its investments in Lebanon despite the reservations of many Arab Gulf investors about investing in the country.
Habtoor was participating in a demonstration headed by Sidon MP Bahia Hariri, sister of slain former Premier Rafik Hariri, along with representatives of foreign diplomats to Lebanon, local professional unions, and sports federations, which marched from the site of the blast that killed her brother to the Sporting Club in Manara.

Habtoor said: "I believe in the Lebanese people's will and ability to overcome this critical phase they are passing through and I am sure they will be able to rise again. I am not worried about my investments; on the contrary I will be investing in future projects in addition to the developing ones."

He said his group is pleased to be setting up investment projects in a Lebanon he believes is in the midst of a renaissance. "We are delighted to be part of its remarkable rebirth."
The Al-Habtoor Group, founded by Dubai tycoon Khalaf al-Habtoor in the 1970s, is one of the key investors in Lebanon and has built a five-star hotel, a residential complex and an $80 million theme park over the past three years.

The demonstration is part of a series of national reconciliation events held for the first time since the end of the 1975-90 civil war that killed 150,000 people and opened up fault-lines across Lebanese society, some of which are still evident today.

In what has been termed Lebanon's "Celebration of Unity," Bahia Hariri asked Lebanese of all denominations to participate in marches and joint Muslim and Christian prayers along the former demarcation line that separated east and west Beirut during the war.

Addressing a crowd of 800 people as they stood calmly in the midday sun wearing blue pins demanding the truth behind the former prime minister's assassination, Hariri said the Lebanese believe in Rafik Hariri and they will carry on his goals of national reconstruction.
Bahia Hariri added that she intended to follow up on her brother's dream to build the Conference Palace, which was vetoed by President Emile Lahoud before the former premier was killed. She carried with her a rock she had picked up from the scene of the blast, which was intended to be the cornerstone of the Conference Palace.

Chouf MP Marwan Hamade, also marching in the protest, read a letter written by Vaclav Havel, former Czech president and hero of his country's Velvet Revolution, in which he called for a "path of freedom and independence, complete withdrawal of occupying troops and renewal of the democratic system in Lebanon."