A matter of perspective

Tom Fletcher speaks to as he prepares to leave his post as ambassador to Lebanon

During a long, wide-ranging exit interview, departing UK Ambassador Tom Fletcher tells Executive and other journalists that over the past four years, the British government has increased 100-fold the assistance it provides to Lebanon, from GBP 2 million per year to GBP 200 million.

The massive increase in aid money was triggered by the Syrian refugee crisis, but Fletcher notes that host communities are increasingly getting their cut. As he’s known for doing, the ambassador also lauded Lebanon for hosting so many of its neighbors.

Mr. Ambassador, as you have told us, the United Kingdom has greatly increased its humanitarian assistance to Lebanon. We came here to mainly discuss economic issues with you but let us first ask how you view the problem of growing unwillingness to admit new refugees?

The important thing for us is that the most vulnerable people are getting help, but it is also important that we have a partnership with the government because we do recognize how difficult it is here. So we try to find a pragmatic way through, but we also try to hold everyone to their humanitarian obligation, even though it’s not easy. If I’m honest, it’s very difficult to lecture people about keeping their borders open.

Why?

Because not every [country] has their borders open.

But you didn’t close Scotland.

[Laughs] No, Scotland’s open for business. And we sell, by the way, more Scottish salmon, more Scottish whiskey, here in Lebanon, per capita, than anywhere in the world. I was actually in tears the morning of the referendum, when the Scots voted to stay. It was a very emotional moment for all of us, but I was happy as well for our trade stats, because we rely on exports. We also sell more Jaguars, Bentleys and Princess Yachts, per capita, than anywhere in the world. And Panadol, bizarrely. There are 250 million panadol tablets sold here every year.

You’ve said trade between the UK and Lebanon has doubled in your four years, and looking at the Panadol stat, is there any re-export going on?

The model that works well here is not just thinking that it’s trade between the UK and Lebanon, but that it’s trade between the British and the Lebanese. So what we’ve tried to do is connect people who want to be connected. If you’ve got a guy making a new type of spoon in Belfast, we’ll connect him with a Lebanese network that will sell those spoons in West Africa, South America and so on. Our trade team compiled a list of Lebanese distributors who want new whiskey brands. As new whiskeys come to the market, they’re saying, ‘We want to be the distributor of that whiskey.’

Your mandate is to help British exports to Lebanon. What about the reverse, are more Lebanese products now headed for the UK?

It’s not explicitly part of my mandate, but I’ve always tried to encourage, for example, the Lebanese wine industry to get a good foothold in the UK. And it’s doing very well. It’s still quite expensive, at the UK end, but Lebanese wine has a real cache. Lots of agricultural products, nuts and so on, are also doing really well. But I guess the one where I’ve really tried to help is just on improving Lebanon’s general image because in a way, so much depends on that. I’ve been consistently trying to provide an image that doesn’t just focus on the bombs and the terrorism and so on.

Where does the UK Lebanon Tech Hub fit in?

Let’s see in three years’ time [about that].

But it’s only a two-year initiative.

I reckon it will run longer than that. It’s got legs. I think the two-year phase will be a government to government phase as we create that framework, and then we just let them go.

“I’VE BEEN CONSISTENTLY TRYING TO PROVIDE AN IMAGE OF LEBANON THAT DOESN’T JUST FOCUS

ON THE BOMBS.”

Where do you see the future of entrepreneurial collaborations between Lebanon and the UK, is it more outsourcing from the UK to Lebanese suppliers; knowledge transfer; entrepreneurial spirit infusion into Nordic development plans? What’s the formula?

All of the above, really. One thing I was struck by when I went to see the Tripoli Entrepreneurs’ Club up there, [was when] they said all we need is an internet connection and a room and we’ll do the rest. They said that every couple of months guys come along and smash their internet connection. So it’s as simple as that. There’s a kind of dividing line there, and they’re very much on the front line, really, of whether this region sinks or swims, and I would back them. I’m never