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BEIRUT - The Lebanese Council of Women Leaders, headed by Ms. Madiha Raslan, organized an open discussion session with HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, founder and chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org) entitled “The Role of Woman in the Upcoming Arab Renaissance” at the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut & Mount Lebanon headquarters.

The session was attended by Alia Abbas, General Director of Economy and Trade, Ministry of Economy, Director General at Ministry of Tourism. Ms. Nada Sardouk, Director of the National Media Agency, Ms. Laure Suleiman Saab in addition to a host of women leaders and members of the Council.

Raslan

At the beginning of the session, Ms. Raslan welcomed Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh and the attendees and said: “Today, we are in the presence of a unique Palestinian Arab success story. Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh, founder and chairman of TAG-Org the world’s largest company in protecting Intellectual Property Rights and trademark registration.”

She added, “Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh’s name has become one of the strongest Arab and international brands.”

 “We, as women leaders, believe like you do in the importance of rapid transformations in the technology field and their impact on the economic, political and social environment which is a key driver for economic growth and social development,” Raslan said.

She also stated: “There is a need to create a strong bond between creative minds. Therefore, we call all business and investment experts to focus on providing an appropriate economic knowledge-based environment attributed to that fact prosperity of a society starts by supporting creativity.”

Addressing Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh, Raslan said: “Recently, you have been talking about the next Arab renaissance and we hope there will be one, however, how  could it be achieved with the current backwardness which is combined with large scale corruption in our societies? With limited and unequal opportunities, with violence, and limited participation of women in decision making at all levels,” Raslan wondered.

Abu-Ghazaleh:

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh said that he will patronize a ceremony honoring the late Edward Said at Colombia University, noting that: “Today, we are at the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, women from now on will be the decision makers by raising digital children who will lead the world.”

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh announced that he will release his new book at the end of this month which tackles technological development the world is heading towards, in which the Internet will be the most used tool by human beings.

He added: “you heard many programs talking about children's addiction to the Internet, but I recommend you to teach and train your children towards this addiction which I believe is a ‘good addiction’.”

Furthermore, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh called women to encourage their children to use the Internet from the age of ten as it will become the alternative to going to schools and universities, saying that: “there isn’t any science backing that a teacher could teach students anything that isn’t available on the Internet.”

He believes that the goal of education should change, “Tsunami of Knowledge Revolution", according to President of Harvard University, will remove those who don’t change from existence and the role of universities in the future will change from graduating certificate holders to graduating inventors.

He said “We managed this month to launch the first of its kind university college, with one si