Lebanese politician Raya Hassan made history on Thursday when she became the first woman interior minister in the Arab world.

SOURCE: THE NATIONAL

BY: SUNNIVA ROSE

Mrs Hassan, 51, becomes the most senior of four women in the 30-strong government formed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri after nine months of political wrangling.

“Proud of Lebanese women, proud of the four (female) ministers in the government, proud of the first woman ointerior minister in the Arab world, proud of the future, proud of Lebanon”, tweeted Mr Hariri on Friday.

Mrs Hassan also made headlines in 2009 when she became the first woman in the region to be appointed finance minister.

“To be honest, it was a surprise, but I am proud too, of course,” she said of her newest appointment. “Mr Hariri has trusted me twice [by giving me] two difficult ministries. It demonstrates his trust in women’s capabilities.”

Women were also appointed to run the energy, administrative development and women’s affairs portfolio. Mr Hariri’s previous Cabinet only included one woman in a junior ministerial position.

A member of Mr Hariri’s Future Movement, Mrs Hassan, a banker, has never been elected.

The mother-of-three worked as an adviser to the prime minister before being appointed minister of finance in 2009.

Most recently, she has worked attracting business to Lebanon’s second-biggest city Tripoli.

“She is an incorruptible woman,” Antoine Amatoury, head of Gulftainer, a UAE based company that operates the Port of Tripoli, told The National.

“There were many (illegal) ways to accelerate procedures for the Special Economic Zone and she wouldn’t hear of it. She preferred working slowly but honestly.”

“We look forward to see her succeed,” said Ahmad Kamareddine, head of the Tripoli municipality. “She’s an experienced and hard-working woman”.