Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui said Monday that preparations were underway to launch a group of smart or digital cities and a media city in his country, the official National News Agency reported.

The cities will be located, in principle, in the East Beirut suburb of Dekwaneh, the report said.

The minister was speaking during the 19th International Conference on Telecommunications at The Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) in Beirut, in the presence of experts, businessmen and investors in this sector.

A smart city is an urban area designated for generating economic development by focusing on a specific economic area.

According to Sehnaoui, "we have also taken measures to [promote] the broadcasting industry [in Lebanon], so that key international and regional media companies would start broadcasting from it once again."