Website for Lebanese community in UAE

An online meeting place for the Lebanese community in the UAE was launched on Monday night in Dubai.

The website, lebaneseinemirates.com, has been up and running in the last two weeks and already has more than 2,000 members.

The site contains job listings, classifieds, personal ads, social calendar, news, a chat-room, directory and a help desk, among others.

There are an estimated 150,000 Lebanese in the UAE.

The website's founders say they have no political leanings.
It was unveiled under the auspices of the Lebanese embassy in Abu Dhabi as part of the Lebanese Independence Day (Nov. 22) celebrations at Radisson SAS in Dubai Media City in the presence of the Lebanese Consul in the UAE, Farah El Khatib El Hariri.

The website is a subset of the lebaneseingulf.com (LIG), an online community founded by Ralph El Kahi, a 30-year-old Lebanese entrepreneur.

Georges Mhawech, a Kuwait-based representative of LIG, gave a presentation about the site in behalf of El Kahi.

Lebanese community leaders who attended the event welcomed the idea of the website to help them reunite with their compatriots and provide support to young Lebanese coming into the UAE looking for job opportunities.

During the event, Elie Hawwa, the website's coordinator in the Emirates announced the website's mission in addition to its services.

The website's founders said they will organize a social events and fund-raisers for the Lebanese community.