The cedars of Lebanon

July 6 – 8, 2008

I guess it is appropriate to start a new blog with a visit to a new country. Not a new country, actually, given that Lebabon is as old as the hills (although it only gained independence in 1943), but new to me.

Spent just over two days here working with Arab parliamentarians as advisor to their regional task force on transparency in revenues. Surprisingly, at least to me, very little work has been done on parliamentary oversight on revenues so the task of devising a handbook is not as straightforward as I was expecting. Looks as though I will be going to their annual conference to make a presentation and, as it is in Kuwait and I have not been there either, I guess I’d better do some work.

It was also an opportunity for me to sightsee, if two walks along the Corniche in the afternoon heat and a visit to Starbucks count as sightseeing! At least I managed to catch up with my friend, Lisa von Trapp, and it was lovely to have a chat in person and not over Skype. We also had a fantastic dinner al fresco on a restaurant rooftop terrace at which I valiantly refused to pollute my body with araik and demanded healthy red wine!