Cités Unies Liban/Bureau Technique des Villes Libanaises (BTVL) is organizing a study visit for ten Lebanese mayors who are members of the CEFOM Steering Committee as well as two representatives of the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities including the Director General of Local Authorities, from June 1st to 3rd in Marseille.

The CEFOM project is currently being implemented by the South Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region in partnership with the Lebanese Mayors' Committee, the National Center of the Territorial Public Service (CNFPT), Cités Unies Liban / Bureau Technique des Villes Libanaises (BTVL) and the Agency for Sustainable Mediterranean Cities and Territories (AVITEM) and with the financial support of the French Development Agency (AFD), following the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding for the creation of a Training Center for Municipalities in Lebanon in Carcassonne in September 2019 between the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of the French Republic, the Minister to the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, in charge of Territorial Collectivities of the French Republic, the President of the National Center of the French Territorial Public Service, the Minister of Interior and Municipalities of the Lebanese Republic at the time, Mrs. Raya EL-HASSAN and the President of the Lebanese Mayors Committee. 

This project aims at carrying out all the preliminary steps for the creation of a unique Training Center for Municipalities in Lebanon (CEFOM), whose mission will be to offer a structured and sustainable training program to all elected officials and all Lebanese municipal agents.

The main objective of the current study visit is to raise awareness among Lebanese local elected officials and State institutions about the organization, in France, of responses to the training needs of local authorities. It will also allow the organization of a meeting with local authorities of the Region on decentralized cooperation with Lebanon. 

It should be noted that the President of the South Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region Mr. Renaud MUSELIER, the Lebanese Ambassador in France Mr. Rami ADWAN, the General Consul of Lebanon in Marseilles Mrs. Sonia ABOU AZAR, and other representatives of French actors of decentralized cooperation will be present during the different sequences organized during this visit.