As a Global Arab Personality Supporting Innovation: Lebanese National Library Honors Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh

BEIRUT – The Lebanese Minister of Culture, Judge Mohammed Wissam Al-Mourtada, has honored HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh by granting him the Shield of the Ministry of Culture, in recognition of his varied efforts and as being a global Arab personality supporting innovation and technological development thinking. 

The honoring ceremony was held in the presence of Lebanon's Minister of Industry, HE Mr. George Boujikian, Minister of Telecommunications, HE Mr. Johnny Corm, former MP Essam Noman, and former President of the Supreme Judicial Council, President Ghaleb Ghanem, in addition to a host of high-ranking figures. During the ceremony, Judge Al-Mourtada presented the Shield of the Ministry of Culture to Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh as a token of appreciation of his life journey that embodies concepts of self-determination, hope, and success.

Minister Al-Mourtada talked about the different stages of Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh’s life, and how he had become a role model for succeeding  generations, saying: “Talal Abu-Ghazaleh’s name is a synonym to self-determination and success; a story whose chapters have clearly proved how a vision can become an achievement when its holder has the will, knowledge, and dedication; and how excellence develops from a story that is read or told, to an icon and an inspiration for others to follow. "

The Minister went on to add that: “Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, from a child displaced from Palestine by the Zionists gangs in 1948 to the founder and chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global; the global organization of firms that provide professional services in the fields of accounting, management consulting, technology transfer, training, education, intellectual property, legal services, information technology, recruitment, translation, publishing, and distribution.”

Mr. Al-Mourtada reiterated that the life journey of Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh is the story of a long struggle during which he tirelessly sought to promote the  culture of persistence to achieve his goals, and the culture of relying on modern technological methods, attributed to his belief that ‘every age has its own tools and mechanisms’. 

For his part, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh thanked the Minister for the honoring, restating that Lebanon has a special place in his heart as he considers the Lebanese people his own family that embraced him since his childhood until his graduation from the American University of Beirut.  

He reviewed other parts of his own life stages, and how he went into the world of technology and developed this field, his work in the field of intellectual property, the global positions he assumed, as well as the suffering he experienced when he was only ten years old, as a Palestinian child who was displaced from his own homeland..

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh addressed the Lebanese people, saying, “Your suffering is a blessing from God that you have to thank him for it, as it will reveal the best of you and you will come out victorious over your crisis, but, the only thing you have to do is to be patient and trust your abilities.”

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh expressed his readiness to provide the National Library with a number of books and publications, in addition to a number of laptops manufactured by Talal Abu-Ghazaleh for Technology, by allocating a hall for the opening of the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Knowledge Station in the Library.

At the end of the honoring ceremony, the attendees toured the various sections of the Library and were briefed on the rare and valuable books, old magazines and manuscripts.