Official Opening of Citizen Reception Office in Mount Lebanon Governorate

The official launching of the Mount Lebanon Governorate Citizen Reception Office (CRO), a modern facility organized by SUNY/CLD with funding from USAID, was held April 24, 2006 in the Serail in Baabda.

Governor of Beqaa Judge Antoine Sleiman, USAID Mission Director Raouf Youssef, SUNY/CLD Director Mahmoud Batlouni, and Al Metn Administrative District Manager Marlene Haddad participated in the event that was also attended by local dignitaries, municipal union presidents, Governorate departmental directors, and military officials.

Governor Sleiman expressed appreciation to both USAID and SUNY/CLD for the modernization achieved in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities (MOIM) emphasizing that ‘the Administration is to serve citizens and not the reverse’. Facilitating greater public access to information and better service quality, the organization of the CRO is an important step as well towards further development of institutional capacities to enable E-government services – the completion of citizen transactions using the internet – to be implemented.

Director Batlouni praised the efforts of the Governorate in embracing the reform initiatives and in adopting the advanced technologies essential to providing efficient, transparent citizen services.