Ziad Hawat
Ziad Hawat (born February 27, 1977) is a Lebanese politician who served as the mayor of Byblos, Lebanon from 2010 to 2017. He is the youngest man to have served as mayor of Byblos.
Ziad was born in 1977 in Byblos, Lebanon which is considered the oldest inhabited city in the world, full of heritage and culture, to parents Halim Hawat and May Abi Saab originally Mazraat Bani Saab (Bcharri). He grew up in the city he loved with his brother, Nabil and sister Zeina. Together, they were raised on ethics, respect and love for their country.
Ziad graduated from College des Freres Maristes and went on to major in Business Administration at (USEK) the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik. After his graduation in 1998, he went on to work with his father in the family business, Hawat Trading, which is a leading wood products importer and exporter in Lebanon and the Middle East. He learned discipline, business administration and relations throughout his work at the company.
A few years into his work, he saw an opportunity to travel around in Iraq and Saudi Arabia where he could grow the family business and truly place it on the map. His distance from his country and especially his hometown further asserted his patriotism. He then started mapping out a plan for him to be more involved in the public sector. Ziad always knew the potential he had and that he wanted to grow, helping the people of his town. Within his years abroad, Ziad achieved great successes which benefited him on both a personal level as well as a business one.
He came back from his travels to a supportive family and to a booming business. Ziad then started carving out his plan to be more involved in helping the town grow and prosper. At the young age of 33, Ziad submitted his name to run for Mayor of Jbeil. He worked long and hard on his campaign where to tried to listen to people's needs and wants. He got down on the ground, talked to the people of his hometown, toured the town and had a long, strategic plan to grow and evolve his beautiful home.
His run was looked down on by many and he heard plenty of chit chats about the impossibility of his win. He was running against people who had been in the municipality for decades; who have won more votes than he would ever hope to get. He was considered to be inexperienced and too young for the position. However, along with a group of young hopefuls like himself, he ran a long and tough campaign. In May of 2010, the elections came to an end and Ziad Hawat was elected as President of the Municipality of Jbail, gaining the highest number of votes in the history of Jbail's municipal elections. Ziad Hawat is a Lebanese politician. In 2010 he was sworn in as mayor of Byblos.[1][2]
In the year 2009, he married Ms. Carine Abou Khaled and is to this day a faithful family man with 3 children, Halim, Maria and Sophia.
The new mayor took office with passion and determination; qualities that never withered throughout his long stay in office. Ziad was a leader by all means; he kept the city moving in the proper direction, identified the citizens' needs and developed several programs to satisfy those needs. He discovered a new world of national and international affairs and became the most loved mayor in the country. His approval rates sky rocketed year after year as his will, drive and love of the country kept growing.
In 2013, Ziad Hawat was awarded the “Golden Medal of Merit” from the United Nations World Tourism Organization for outstanding achievements, with a certificate of distinction for Jbail, Byblos as Best Arab Tourist City for the year 2013.
Hawat has long been an aggressive advocate for the environment; In March 2013, he joined forces with local and international collaborators and implemented a waste sorting scheme to preserve the city’s environment and safeguard it from pollution. Taking it a step further, In March 2014, Hawat launched a €40 million project, partially financed by the republic of Italy, and aims at establishing a sewage system that covers the cities of Jbail, Amchit, Blat, Edde, Kfarmashoun, Jeddayel and Hosryael.
A fighter for preserving the heritage of the city of Jbail, his outstanding perseverance acts in this sphere attracted the American Rockefeller Foundation which chose the city of Jbail-Byblos as the 5th official member of the 100 resilient cities program, amongst 400 cities from the six continents that will be granted support in putting in place plans to protect and safeguard its heritage and archaeological sites.
In line with his presidency, Ziad remains chairman of Hawat Trading, Lebanon (exporter of wood products in Lebanon and the Middle East), chairman of Hawat Trading, Middle East, chairman of ABM, Lebanon and chairman of Zinaline Kitchen Factory, Lebanon. In parallel with all the above, Ziad is a member of AIMF (International Association of Francophone Mayors) and a member of the Lebanese Maronite Association.
During his presidency, Ziad launched and oversaw the success of many projects, the most notable being: -- The new municipality building -- Reconstruction of the old souk facades -- Public Park with a surface area of 12,000 m2 which was awarded the biggest park award in Lebanon -- Sports City -- Best Touristic City of 2016 -- Christmas trees (2013 – 2016) which got worldwide recognition
In 2016, Ziad Hawat was reelected as President of the Municipality of Jbail for his 2nd term with no opponent to beat.
The people found love, comfort and trust in Ziad and believed in his vision for the future. He resigned from his post in July 2017, in order to run for parliament in the Lebanese general election, 2018.[3] and in May 2018, he successfully gained a seat at the parliament with 14424 votes; making him the leading MP with the highest votes in the region.
He is the nephew of senior Byblos politician Jean Hawat.[2]