Month: July 2019

A fleet of electric taxis are now available throughout the Principality, providing a much needed boost to services in the busy summer months.

The 100% electric vehicles will allow travel throughout Monaco at the basic fixed price of 15€ and, like normal taxis, customers will be able to hail the vehicle in the street. People will also be able to download the ‘Taxis Monaco’ app for fast booking and free travel estimates.

“Monegasques and residents are regularly echoing, together with elected officials, their difficulty in finding a taxi at certain times (especially in the summer) for travel,” said the National Council. “In recent months, a series of meetings have been held at the National Council with ‘artisans’ taxis in connection with the Monaco Government, to offer an ever more efficient service to residents and visitors to the Principality.”

Seven electric taxis will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are white in colour with an ‘electricity taxi’ logo on the side in the traditional Monegasque colour of red.

Licensed taxi operators were given the option to purchase an electric vehicle to add to their fleet and were rewarded with the usual government subsidies. Drivers will have a seasonal license that will be granted by the State.

Five charging stations will be reserved for the vehicles, while 18 terminals located throughout the Principality will also be available to drivers.

The seasonal electric taxis will not only help meet demand, they will also adhere to Monaco’s current Energy Transition, and are expected to facilitate shopping within the Principality.

The fleet will run until 31^st October, when an assessment of the service is expected to be delivered.

Statistics show that about one-third of all the food grown globally every year is either wasted or lost due to spoilage. When it is considered that almost 800 million people do not regularly get enough to eat, this seems almost criminal.

The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is taking steps to rectify this situation in one region of North Africa. A new three-year project, launched at the 41^st Session of the FAO Conference in Rome at the end of June, will attempt to cut losses in fig, apple and date farming in Morocco’s oasis systems by 15%, as well as providing sustainable management techniques for the area’s natural resources.

In addition to looking at Morocco’s situation, the conference covered the state of food production and agricultural issues from several member countries worldwide, and approved a new policy, prepared by out-going Director General José Graziano, that will control the food chain in order to lessen industrialised farming practices and promote sustainable agriculture and development.

Monaco has been a member of this organisation since 2001, and this year has been elected to the FAO Council, a posting that runs for a four year term. Along with other commitments to the FAO, the Principality is involved with the newly launched Decade on Family Farming. The Decade “aims to inspire the international community to generate a refreshed political commitment supporting family farmers and crafting pro-family farming policies.”

Monaco has sent a special delegation to Lebanon to discuss partnerships in health, education and socio-economic integration of the most vulnerable populations. It is also aiming to increase its support of Lebanon’s refugee efforts.

The delegation, led by Director General of the Department of External Relations and Cooperation Isabelle Rosabrunetto, was also an opportunity to strengthen the ties of friendship between the two States during an interview at the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Held from 18th to 22nd June, it followed a visit by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Gilles Tonelli just over a year earlier.

At the invitation of Fondation Mérieux, the Lebanese NGO Amel and the Municipality of Douris, Ms. Rosabrunetto participated in the official inauguration of a mother and child health centre in Douris, alongside the Lebanese Minister of Health, Dr. Jamil Jabak. In April 2018, Gilles Tonelli participated in the official ceremony of laying the foundation stone of this same centre.

“The book we are celebrating is a perfect illustration of the importance you attach to – and give – the health and well-being of the people of this often-felt region of Lebanon,” said Ms. Rosabrunetto. “I am thinking in particular of children this year as we celebrate the 13th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is to them that we must provide the best protection to guarantee their future.”

After meeting with Claudio Cordone, Director of UNRWA in Lebanon, Ms. Rosabrunetto went to the Bourj el-Barajneh camp in Beirut, where she visited a health centre and learned about the daily challenges of Palestinian refugees, including access to care.

As part of the first area of ​​intervention of the Monegasque Cooperation in Lebanon, the delegation went to Kefraya, Bekaa, to attend the care operations of the mobile medical unit of the Order of Malta Lebanon (ALCM ) in an informal Syrian camp. The trip ended with a moment of sharing between the elderly people of the ALCM day centre, which has been supported by the Prince’s Government for more than three years.

The bilateral cooperation between the two countries was initiated in 1993, with Monaco’s investment of more than six million euros in Lebanon in response to socio-economic issues. According to the government, the Principality aims to intensify its support for Lebanon with regards to the current Syrian crisis, considering that Lebanon has the highest number of refugees per capita: one refugee for every three Lebanese.

Sheikh Bechara K. El Khoury acts as the Principality’s Consul in Lebanon.

The Monegasque delegation was composed of: Isabelle Rosabrunetto, Director General of the Department of External Relations and Cooperation, Elodie Martin, Lebanon Program Manager at the Directorate of International Cooperation and Joseph Hayek, Honorary Consulate of Monaco in Lebanon.