On November 17, the CEO of the Qatar-based company, Energy and Environment Holding, and Senior Fellow at the Transatlantic Leadership Network (TLN), Dr. Roudi Baroudi, visited Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) to provide a holistic analysis of the recent maritime border agreement between Lebanon and the Israeli government, mediated by the United States. Convening in the Pierre Abou Khater Auditorium were NDU President, Fr. Bechara Khoury, faculty, students, representatives from other universities, and prominent journalists and academics.
In his opening statement, Fr. Khoury praised Dr. Baroudi’s political expertise regarding the oil reserves in the Mediterranean Sea and their economic potential. He then addressed the students, the Lebanese youth whom he referred to as the “most precious source of wealth of our nation.” To the Father President, Lebanese youth in the diaspora are a treasure missing from the country, their emigration understandable amidst the difficult circumstances, but nevertheless a void in the country’s progress.
Fr. Khoury continued: “Our youth are the true oil, the real wealth we should be concerned with. Today, we are called to place the blueprints and see to the progress of Lebanon, so that these young men and women remain rooted in their homeland.”
In his presentation, Dr. Baroudi drew from his commentary on the diplomatic relations of the Mediterranean in his 2021 book, Maritime Boundaries in the Mediterranean: The Way Forward. The executive and energy expert gave a holistic analysis and revealed a detailed mapping—the most accurate of its kind thus far—of where the border was drawn: at a point approximately 5 kilometers from the shore of Lebanon. Further, Dr. Baroudi explored the unresolved agreement between Lebanon, Cyprus, and the Israeli occupation, as the maritime border coincides with the to-be-determined Exclusive Economic Zone between the three parties.
Dr. Baroudi concluded on a positive note, underlining the equity of the maritime agreement: in an uncommon happenstance, the US was able to provide Lebanon with several advantages in their diplomatic mediation. The de facto treaty will allow Lebanon to generate an overdue hydrocarbon sector, in addition to facilitating energy security, economic growth, and human and social development.
After a period of economic and political stagnation, this event appears to hold optimistic implications from this point on, a hope that could encourage the Lebanese youth to remain in the country and become active agents in societal progress as future leaders.