The former Prime Minister Dr. Salim Al-Hoss gave a lecture entitled “Lebanon, the Message”, at the USEK’s campus on the 28th of April 2010, upon the invitation of the University’s President, reverend father Hadi Mahfouz. The lecture was held in the presence of Bishop Guy Boulos Njeim, General Deputy for the Lebanese Maronite Order reverend father Karam Rizk, the University’s President reverend father Mahfouz, the Vice-President reverend father Boulos Naaman, Vice-President for Research reverend father Georges Hobeika, Secretary General of the University reverend father Marwan Azar, head of the Order of Engineers and Architects in Beirut Mr. Bilal El-Alayli, representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, members of the university’s council, as well as teachers and students.

Following the national anthem, a welcome speech was given by the vice-director of the Student Affairs Office at the university, Mr. Khalil Abboud. Afterwards, the Director of the Higher Institute for Political and Administrative Sciences Dr. Georges Yahchouchi delivered a speech in which he pointed out that “the lecture falls within the scope of the efforts aiming at disseminating and promoting a balanced national political culture and a correct democracy”. His Excellency Al Hoss talked about Lebanon’s cultural baggage, saying that the country is open to the world in all its dimensions, and that there are groups among the Lebanese people who have absorbed the eastern and western cultural influences. It is indeed them who made of Lebanon a message: the message from the east and to it. He added that “Lebanon’s tolerance of multiple confessions is its source of wealth in a civil peace scenario”, insisting that the Lebanese people should spare no effort to overcome the sectarian conflicts in the country, and that the abolition of sectarianism is a must within the current system. He also stated that “the latest shining image of Lebanon was reflected in its ability, without any noticeable intervention of the Lebanese state, to cope with the world financial crisis that emerged during the last years of the twenty first century’s first decade, and that barely any country had been spared from Dr. Al Hoss concluded by saying: “the message goes beyond the mere fact of counting the Lebanese population or defining Lebanon’s geographical location, it rather resides in the beauty of the country’s nature and cultural position in the Arab world, as well as in the freedoms granted to its citizens, and the spread of its Diaspora around the world in general, and in the Arab countries in particular. This phenomenon is clearly taking shape in the coexistence between its different categories”.

At the end of the lecture, reverend father Mahfouz presented the former Prime Minister Al-Hoss with an award, as a token of appreciation, and a lunch was held in the latter’s honour.