Salam Meets Young Lebanese Professionals in Washington: The Lebanon We Want to Build Must Reflect You

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met with a group of young Lebanese professionals in Washington, bringing together members of the Lebanese Club at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, graduates of the International College (IC) and the American University of Beirut (AUB), along with a group of young Lebanese working in various sectors and institutions in the US capital.

In his speech, Salam noted that he insisted during his visit to Washington on meeting with young Lebanese and listening to them, especially those who left Lebanon for study or in search of work opportunities and to achieve their ambitions.

He affirmed that the success of the government's project is not measured only by the number of laws or projects, but by its ability to build a country where young people can once again see an opportunity for their future. He stressed that the state's duty is not to ask them to return before it fulfills its own obligations, but to work so that returning to Lebanon becomes "a choice, not a sacrifice."

Salam emphasized that young Lebanese do not ask for the impossible, but for a state that respects its citizens, allows them to succeed based on their competencies away from nepotism and favoritism, and provides a trusted judiciary, an economy that creates opportunities, and an administration that respects the citizen and their time.

He confirmed that the state-building project relies on two intertwined paths: genuine internal reform and full sovereignty of the state over all its territories. He stressed that "there is no state with two armies, nor a state with two decisions," and that the government is proceeding with reform and extending state authority over its entire territory.

Salam paused to reflect on the diversity of the participants in the meeting, coming from different regions, sects, and backgrounds. He considered this image to be what Lebanon should resemble: a country where Lebanese identity is the unifying basis, and where sect, region, or connections do not determine a citizen's rights or future.

He called on young Lebanese abroad to remain part of Lebanon through their ideas, experiences, networks, and investments, and to hold the government accountable for actions and results, not promises, saying: "Hold us accountable for the work, hold us accountable for the result."

Salam stressed that young Lebanese abroad are not "the generation Lebanon lost," but "part of the generation that must come back to rebuild it." He stated that the Lebanon the government seeks to build must resemble its youth: young, ambitious, open, diverse, without barriers between its people, and looking toward the future.