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The return of Lebanese women to the Council of Ministers: Once again, and from a wide open door, the Lebanese woman has returned to the Lebanese Council of Ministers after a long absence, with two prominent Ministers being Mona Adeeb Afish as a state minister and Raya Hassan Haffar as minister of finance. The Prime Minister Saad Hariri gathered the new generation or the youth generation around him yesterday evening, and formed a new government. He handed over the Ministry of Finance, which is related to his own party "the future movement", to Mrs. Raya Hassan Haffar who is 32 years old. Despite her young age, she has extensive experience in global finance. All of this reflects the determination of PM Hariri that there will be a full program of development, from which the exploitation of the opportunity to get aid and donations which are still kept in the drawers of the State for years, since the days of the Paris 3 summit, which only needs the approval from the Council of Ministers. The same applies to the second minister. Mrs. Mona Adeeb Afish, which is representing the President who is favored to a lot of the Lebanese intellectuals, had been appointed as minister of State. This helped to establish the credibility of women in the ministry because she has an extensive and comprehensive experience in the field of law and the legal profession. This development, which took place on Sunday November 9, is considered a very well and even an excellent development because it enabled the Arab women or the Lebanese women in particular, to enter the political sphere and public administrative control and that deserves close monitoring in order to disseminate the achievements made by Arab women. Who is Mrs. Raya Haffar Al Hasan? She is the daughter of Mrs. Mohamad Ali Haffar, born in January 1967. Married to Dr. Janah AL Hassan and has 3 kids. Mrs. Raya studied at the American University of Beirut and earned a degree in Business Administration in June 1987. She also earned Master degree in Finance and Investment from George Washington University in 1990. Mrs. Raya worked as an assistant to the Minister of Finance in the establishment of financial schemes in the Ministry of Finance in Lebanon from 1993 to 1998. She also served as Adviser to the Minister of Economy and Commerce from 2000 to 2003. She also worked in the office of the prime minister from July 2003 to February 2005, and October 2005 until today. Mrs. Raya headed ranges of projects put forward in the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, including support for Prime Minister in a number of policies, technical assistance and capacity-building, she also worked on the development of the government's economic and social program at the conference of Paris 2 and 3. Mrs. Raya Haffar Al Hassan has occupied the post of minister of finance today in the government of the new Lebanese national unity, and we are hoping that the existence of women, with all the capacity and experience that they have in the government, will be a proof of women's power and ability to improve the social and economic situation in the country if there is an opportunity for them to do so. Who is Mrs. Mona Afish? She is the daughter of Mrs. Adib Afish, born in December 1942. Married to Fadoul Choueiri, a mother of two children, Najla and Adib. Mrs. Mona earned her law degree from the Lebanese and French Saint-Joseph University in Beirut in 1966. She is fluent in Arabic, English and French. Mrs. Mona was a lawyer since 1967 and she is a member of the Bar Association in Beirut. Mrs. Mona has headed the foundation of Father Afif Osseiran since 1993. Also she has headed the Association for Lebanese university since 2004; she is considered as an active agent in improving prison conditions and in the elimination of discrimination against women. She is also a member of non-governmental organizations including the Union of Children in Lebanon. She also participated in many international seminars in the Arab countries in the area of competence. Today, Ms. Mona Afish had occupied the post of Minister of State under the new government to prove once again the ability of women to breach the wall of the male Lebanese parliament and occupy political posts just like men. This is an in-house AWN report compiled by AWN staff: Miss Youmna Koubeissi, Miss Hiba Karameh and Miss Ola Fouani
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