| Office: | Minister of State |
| Primeminister: | Saad Hariri |
| Term Start: | 9 November 2009 |
| Term End: | June 2011 |
| Office1: | Minister of Economy and Trade |
| Primeminister1: | Omar Karami |
| Predecessor1: | Marwan Hamadeh |
| Successor1: | Demianos Khattar |
| Term Start1: | 2004 |
| Term End1: | 2005 |
| Birth Place: | Beirut, Lebanon |
| Party: | Independent |
| Alma Mater: | St. Joseph University |
| Spouse: | Raedaa Miskaoui |
| Nationality: | Lebanese |
| Children: | 1 |
| Website: | Official website |
Adnan Kassar (Arabic: عدنان القصار; born 1930) is a Lebanese banker, businessman and politician, who served at different cabinet posts.
Kassar was born into a Sunni family in Beirut in 1930.[1] His father, Wafiq Kassar, was a prominent diplomat who served as the ambassador of Lebanon in Pakistan and Turkey.[1] His mother was Chafika Diab.[1]
Kasar received a law degree from St. Joseph University in 1951.[1] [2] [3]
At age 25 Kassar managed to build a business partnership with China in 1955.[4] In addition to being a businessman, he is a banker dealing finance investments. He has founded and owns various companies concerning trade, shipping and travel, and industry. He is one of the owners of the Banque Libano-Francaise together with Farid Raphael, his brother Nadim Kassar and Victor Kassir.[5] Kassar acquired the bank in 1980.[6]
Kassar served as the president of the Beirut Chamber of Commerce and Industry for nearly thirty years to which he was elected in January 1972.[7] In June 1997, he became the president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Lebanon.[7] From 1999 to 2000, he headed the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) based in Paris,[8] being the first Arab to preside over it. On 1 January 2001, Richard D. McCormick, who served as his deputy at the ICC, succeeded Kassar as head of the ICC.[9]
In January 2003, Kassar was appointed member of the patrons committee of the Anglo-Arab organisation.[2] In addition, Kassar and his brother are shareholders of Fransabank, a large Lebanese commercial bank.[10] As of 2013 Kassar was serving as the chairman of the bank.[11] He was also chairman of the general union of Arab chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture and of Lebanon’s economic committees.[12]
In October 2004, Kassar was appointed minister of economy and trade to the cabinet led by Prime Minister Omar Karami, replacing Marwan Hamadeh as economy minister.[13] His tenure lasted until 2005 when Karami resigned from office due to the pressures exerted by Lebanese people as a protest over the assassination of Rafik Hariri.[14] Kassar was succeeded by Demianos Khattah in the post.[8] [13] Later Kassar served as the minister of state in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri from November 2009 to 2011.[11] [15] Kassar was one of the cabinet members appointed by the Lebanese President Michel Suleiman.[16]
Kassar has been regarded as a potential prime minister since the beginning of the 2000s.[8] [17]
Kassar has also been given other awards, including, Commander of the Order of La Pléiade, Hungarian Order of Merit, and the prize of the Crans Montana Forum (2000).[2] [6] The Union of Arab Banks awarded him with the title of the Banker of the Year for the period 2012–2013.[18] He is the recipient of the Business for Peace Award (2014)[19] and was named as the honorary chairman of the Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce in 2016.[6]
In April 2015 the School of Business at the Lebanese American University was named after Adnan Kassar.[20]
Kassar married Raedaa Miskaoui on 14 June 1969, and they have a daughter, Roula Kassar.[1] [13]