European Commission Directorate-General for Trade

Lebanon

Lebanon's economy is characterized by high imports and substantial trade deficits, which are largely offset by foreign income earnings, including capital inflows, remittances from the Lebanese diasphora and the tourism, banking and insurance sectors. Bilateral trade has been increasing steadily over the last years with an average annual growth of 10.2% since 2006.

Lebanon's trade relations with the EU are currently governed by the EU-Lebanon Association Agreement, the trade-related provisions of which entered into force in April 2006. This agreement establishes the necessary conditions for progressive liberalisation of trade in goods between the EU and Lebanon, with a view to creating a bilateral Free Trade Area. As a result, Lebanese industrial and most agricultural products benefit from free access to the EU market. Progressive elimination of tariffs on EU imports into Lebanon is taking place between 2008 and 2014. A Protocol on the Dispute Settlement Mechanism (DSM) with Lebanon was signed on 11 November 2010.

The EU is Lebanon's main trading partner accounting for a third of its trade volume.

Trade in goods

• EU goods exports to Lebanon 2010: €4.7billion
• EU goods imports from Lebanon 2010: €0.33 billion

The EU is Lebanon's most important trading partner whereby the EU's share of Lebanon's trade volume reached 33% in 2010.

In 2010 EU exports to Lebanon consisted mainly of machinery and transport equipment (26.8%), energy products (18.9%), agricultural products (15.2%) and chemicals (14.3%). EU imports from Lebanon consisted mainly of semi-manufactured (26.6%), agricultural products (17.1%), fuel and mining products (14.7%), machinery and transport equipment (13.5%), chemicals (12.6%), and energy products (8.2%).

Trade in services

The Lebanese economy is based primarily on the service sector, which accounts for 78.2% of its GDP. Lebanon's exports of services to the World amounted to €12.1 billion in 2009, while Lebanon's imports of services from the World amounted to €10.3 billion.Main Lebanese services exports to the World and main Lebanon imports of services from the World are commercial services, among them construction, tourism, and financial services are the most prominent.

Foreign Direct Investments

FDI inflows into Lebanon grew steadily between 2000 and 2009 from €1.04 to €3.4 billion, registering an annual growth 2008/2009 of almost 17%.

More statistics on Lebanon

The European neighbourhood policy and financial assistance

EU-Lebanon co-operation is an important part of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The EU-Lebanon ENP Action Plan entered into force in January 2007. The Neighbourhood policy supports political and economic cooperation between Lebanon and the EU and is the framework for financial assistance from the EU to Lebanon. The European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument - ENPI - is endowed with €11.9 billion for 2007-2013. An EU-Lebanon Strategy Paper 2007-2013 and a National Indicative Programme (NIP) 2011-2013 for financing under the ENPI have been adopted by the EU. According to NIP €150 million have been allocated for the period 2011-2013 to the Lebanese government. These funds will be used also for projects that include measures to facilitate trade.

South-South integration

To help bring about change, an essential component of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is the pursuit of greater economic integration in the Mediterranean region. The signature of the single regional convention on preferential rules of origin for the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean area will replace the current network of bilateral protocols. It opens the door to a rapid revision of the existing rules of origin, and will thus facilitate regional trade and economic integration. When applied, the system will generate new opportunities for operators in participating countries to re-export goods made from components imported from elsewhere without losing their preferential access to the EU market.

WTO

Lebanon is in the process of accession to the WTO. Negotiations started in 1999.