As part of the activities jointly undertaken by Antonine University (UA) and the University of Technology of Troyes (UTT) in relation to the DMECO (“Traitement des Déchets MÉdicaux dus à la COVID-19”) research project for the treatment of medical waste resulting from COVID-19, which is co-funded by the National Research Agency (ANR), the French Development Agency (AFD), and the National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon (CNRS-L), under the impetus of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation (MESRI), a delegation from the UTT visited Lebanon in January 2023, to meet stakeholders from the public and private sectors, including socio-economic actors, intending to identify the prospects for ensuring the sustainability of the project based on the progress of the work carried out.

The UTT delegation, represented by Professors Eric Chatelet and Raed Kouta, and the UA team, composed of Dr. Joseph El Asmar, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering (FOE), and Dr. Ghada Tabbah, Instructor at the same Faculty, met with the Minister of Environment, H.E. Dr. Nasser Yassin, the UA Secretary General and Vice Rector for Administration, Fr. Ziad Maatouk, and the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture in Tripoli, Mr. Toufic Dabboussi, as well as hospitals and other civil society organizations managers.

This indeed constitutes an important step toward laying a solid ground for collective success, despite the disastrous impact of the pandemic and the threatening multidimensional crisis that has hit the country.