During an exclusive interview with the Security and Defense Arabia magazine, the Lebanese customs director General Chafik Merhi elaborated about the importance of Security Middle East Show, SMES, which will be held at the Biel conference center from the 8th to the 10th of September.
Merhi considered SMES location in Lebanon during the current circumstances is a clear message that Lebanon is still a leader in attracting the regional and international activities, even during its hard conditions. “This country is a pioneer when it comes to tackling positively with important developments and events. SMES significance lies in paving the path to national and regional security and military development, it is also a valuable platform to exhibit the most recent innovations in this field. This in itself is a clear message that while many conflicts and hard conditions surround Lebanon, it will never forsake its pivot role in the region.”
Answering about Lebanon’s contribution to combatting terrorism, the director general said that the war against terrorism is a long and a hard one and it needs strenuous efforts in all fields. He also thinks that SMES and its accompanying conference will make the right chance for the security services to accomplish security. Merhi also hoped that they will raise the consciousness level about the terrorism phenomenon and according to him, SMES will furthermore exhibit the latest innovations to combat terrorism and get rid of it.
Talking about the possibility of military contracts between the customs and the exhibiting companies, the director general said that the customs administration is essentially concerned with this show and “we hope that we will sign contracts to enable us to get the necessary equipment to accomplish our missions and target and aspirations. Knowing that this is controlled by the allowed budget and by the government policies especially that the customs are the first defense line to combat terrorism especially on the borders.”
Moreover, Merhi said that customs participation in the show is through brigade of customs men that will explain and clarify customs equipment efficiency to the public. On the other hand, a squad of the customs will ensure security to allow the show’s success, adding to that exhibiting a collection of customs arms and ships that are used to obliterate smuggling. Furthermore, customs will show their suits and its badges and ranks and a series of radiation detectors and bomb detectors and money smuggling and money forgery and discovering drugs.
About the military institution contribution to accomplishing the Lebanese youth sharing in the show dreams, Merhi considered that the Lebanese Universities had launched in the 70’s many research projects to develop the defense arms especially the missile systems (Cedar) and it reached an advanced level then but unfortunately those projects weren’t completed for many reasons. Highlighting these capabilities in SMES is a very important thing, to support the Lebanese students initiatives. “I feel that creating communication lines between those students and the security forces and the universities is a crucial issue to exhibiting their innovations. SMES may be a starting point to creating these communication lines to help the youth make their dreams come true through transforming their research projects to projects to be used. From our side, the customs support this orientation and we hope SMES is the right place to launch related initiatives.
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