BEIRUT: Mohammad Choucair, head of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, emphasized Friday the importance of Lebanon’s openness to European markets following a drop in exports to the Middle East region.

Choucair’s remarks came during the opening of the “Lebanon’s week in France” exhibition organized by the chamber in cooperation with its French counterpart, the Lebanese Central Bank, Solidere, BankMed and MEA in addition to the Tourism and Industry Ministries. Lebanon’s exports fell by 68 percent to Egypt, 12 percent to the UAE and 10 percent to Iraq. Held at Palais des Congres, the exhibition witnessed the participation of over 85 companies belonging to the tourism, banking and real estate sectors.

“This exhibition is considered to be a great accomplishment and we are very proud of this step, since France is considered to be the third-largest importer of Lebanese goods at around $400 million,” said Choucair.

Choucair said that the exhibition promotes Lebanon’s industrial reputation and gives Lebanese products a great chance to be successfully marketed in France.

“We hope that this experience gets repeated very soon in other countries,” he said, adding that Lebanese products are renowned to be of high quality, enabling them to easily enter any foreign market.

For his part, Pierre Gabier, president of the French Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, said that more than 240 meetings will be held between Lebanese and French traders following the exhibition. He added that the conferees agreed to organize such exhibitions every 18 months.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi met on the exhibition’s sidelines with his French counterpart, Francois Baroin. Talks between them focused on the economic crisis in the eurozone.