Ice cream lovers' import fears melt in Lebanon

After a meeting with President Elias Hrawi, Shawki Fakhoury, the Lebanese minister of agriculture, appeared on June 18 to backtrack from his controversial list of food import bans and restrictions one day before the cabinet meets to discuss changes to his proposal.

Today's meeting is expected to produce an amended list of banned imports and clarify ambiguities in last week's decree. He said, "There is misunderstanding over items that will be banned. Cheese, other dairy products and ice cream will continue to be allowed into the country, but duties will be imposed to protect national production."

However, the list that was distributed to ministers last week included ice cream and at least two types each of milk and cheese in the category of goods which cannot be imported at all.

Fakhoury also said that "What we are aiming for is an agricultural policy that will not hurt the merchant, the consumer or the products available on the market.

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