Lebanon’s cabinet has approved the implementing decree for electronic signatures in public administration, which Minister Kamal Shehadi described as “a very important milestone,” opening the way for government transactions to be completed digitally. The first services lined up are a digital stamp, digital certification of university degrees, and consular paperwork for Lebanese abroad, he told Inside Telecom.
Since February 2025, Shehadi has served as Minister of the Displaced and Minister of State for Technology and Artificial Intelligence.
Why It Matters
For citizens facing repeated visits and paperwork delays, the aim is to save “time and money and aggravation,” said Shehadi, and obtain what is due to them “without going through an intermediary, a samsar” (a middleman paid to push paperwork through).
The scale makes delivery difficult. Government departments provide “about three thousand procedures or services,” the AI minister said, which “cannot be transformed overnight.”
The minister’s office is concentrating on the four or five most-used services in each ministry, with wider transformation requiring years of planning and investment.
For citizens, the practical test will be whether these connections remove the need to carry documents between offices. An electronic signature provides part of that foundation, but completing a transaction online still depends on the responsible ministry bringing its service into operation and making identification work for its users.
Who Controls Lebanon’s Digital State?
Shehadi places responsibility across government, describing digital transformation as “the work of 24 ministries.” The minister’s office plays a supporting role, he explained, since the ministry “is not a service industry in the sense that we do not provide services directly to the citizens.”
Each ministry decides which services to digitize and sets its own priorities. Shehadi’s team identifies suitable technologies and builds the connections between government departments, while the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform helps redesign procedures when requested by the ministry concerned.
“Our role is to build the rails that connect the different ministries together,” said the minister.
This division of responsibilities makes progress dependent on cooperation between administrations. The minister’s office supports the process by providing the technical infrastructure, but the implementation of digital services ultimately rests with the ministries responsible for delivering them.
When Will Lebanese Get a Digital ID?
The Ministry of Interior owns the digital identity project, with support from Shehadi’s office. Interior has “gone a long way” toward defining its requirements, Shehadi said, adding that availability would take “a few months,” an estimate rather than a confirmed launch date.
Meanwhile, his office is building a solution allowing citizens to sign in once and upload a Lebanese identity card or passport to transact with a particular ministry or service.
Shehadi pointed to Touch’s launch of embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM) registration using a passport, with services from Alfa and other administrations expected to follow.
The first government services include the digital stamp, designed by his office for the Ministry of Finance, which will issue the tender “very soon.” Another is digital certification of Lebanese university degrees, agreed with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
Consular services being developed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and consular offices would cover powers of attorney, birth certificates, and marriage certificates for Lebanese abroad.
Their arrival will be gradual. Which service starts first “is going to depend on which ministry moves fastest,” he said.
Can AI Training Turn into Jobs?
The One Million Lebanese AI Experts initiative, which Shehadi says trains “prompters” in basic prompt engineering, focuses on using AI tools rather than building them. He explained that “experts” follows terminology used in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), rather than describing specialist developers.
Beyond basic AI use, Shehadi’s target is to develop Lebanese talent capable of building the technology locally.
“The program is to train a million Lebanese to be proficient in using artificial intelligence. The ministry has more ambitious programs, which is to have 15,000 builders of AI, 15,000 Lebanese who contribute to building AI agents, AI tools, AI solutions. All of that to be done in Lebanon anytime between now and the next five years,” said Shehadi.
To support that goal, the ministry launched NUMŪ, offering free training and certification through Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), with cybersecurity courses coming. Agreements with 14 universities help reach students.
About 2,000 Lebanese had signed up and started courses in less than three months, with “almost no investment in marketing,” a number Shehadi described as “very encouraging.” The minister did not identify a funded route connecting graduates to paid work, including teams outside Beirut.
What Happens to Displaced Families Without Papers?
For families who lose identity documents, Shehadi directed responsibility to the Ministry of Interior, saying it could issue replacement papers and had done so during the previous two years.
Shehadi distinguished that role from his displaced portfolio, whose legal remit concerns displacement from wars preceding 1993. His teams nevertheless supported crisis management and aid distribution.
Shehadi said his office worked with the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Unit on a database and coordination between groups supporting the government.
“But our role has been supportive. And again, this is an effort that’s been coordinated by the prime minister’s office, with the Minister of Social Affairs, my colleague Hanine Sayed, in charge of it,” said Shehadi.
Which Laws Does Lebanon’s Digital Economy Still Need?
The electronic signature decree enables “the digitalization of services from beginning to end,” Shehadi said. This means government transactions can move beyond paper-based processes, allowing documents to be signed and processed electronically rather than requiring citizens to move between offices to complete each step.
It “came years and years too late, but at least it’s there now,” said Shehadi. His comment reflects the delay in establishing a legal framework for electronic transactions, which has been a necessary step toward making digital government services legally recognized and operational.
The minister also shared that data protection, and cybersecurity legislation is also being prepared. These measures are intended to establish safeguards for personal information and protect the systems handling government transactions, helping build public confidence in using digital services.
“The digital economy is not going to grow just out of thin air,” said Shehadi. “It’s going to happen because we provide a legislative and regulatory environment that is supportive.”
Parliament referred the bill to turn his office into a full ministry to joint committees in July 2026, bringing the proposed legislation into the parliamentary review process. Its progress, alongside the planned data protection and cybersecurity laws, will help determine whether Lebanon can establish the legal foundations needed to support its digital economy.
For citizens, those rules will matter most when getting a document no longer means losing a working day or paying someone to move the paperwork along.
The ultimate test of Lebanon’s digital transformation will be whether the state can turn its promises, legislation, and technology into services that citizens can access independently and without unnecessary delays.
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