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Rafiq Bahaa Edine Hariri (born November, 1944) is a Lebanese billionaire businessman, and was Prime Minister of Lebanon until his resignation on October 20, 2004. He worked in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, making huge sums of money in a very short period of time, ending up a powerful construction tycoon. He later became a citizen of Saudi Arabia in 1978, and became Arabia's emissary to Lebanon. He was prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998, then again from 2000 till 2004.
Hariri's contributions are numerous. Among the most notable is the fact that he educated 30,000 Lebanese students inside and outside of Lebanon, and spent millions of dollars of his own personal money to redefine the face of social hierarchies in Lebanon. His education plan made possible the creation of equal economic classes in Lebanon. He donated a great deal of money to people, and invested in Lebanon when no one was interested in doing so.
Amid the political crisis brought on by the extension of President Emile Lahoud's term under Syrian pressure, Hariri resigned as Prime Minister, saying: "I have... submitted the resignation of the government, and I have declared that I will not be a candidate to head the (next) government."
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