A Lebanese development company, the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL), has initiated an internet city project akin to Dubai's IT zone, after signing a US firm to conduct a feasibility study, reported the Daily Star on Saturday.
A team from US-based Graber Simmons & Cowan are due in Beirut next week to begin conducting the study, IDAL's chairman and general manager Kamal Hayek said.
The study, which is funded by the US Trade and Development Agency, will outline all requirements for creating the city, which will carry the name Beirut Emerging Technology Zone, he said.
This zone could then be linked to the information city sometime in the future, a project which was initiated by the government of former prime minister Salim Hoss.
Hayek said IDAL was also matching small- and medium-sized firms in Lebanon with international partners for IT start-up projects.
This slew of investment incentives in the IT sector is expected to be followed in mid-August by the much-awaited parliamentary endorsement of a new investment law, he said – Albawaba.com
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