The Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization in Palestine began implementing the agreement to audit the projects of the UNDP in fifteen Arab countries in May 2015. The agreement will be automatically renewed for the next three years.

Asma Marzouq – Palestine Economy Portal

The Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization in Palestine (TAG-Org) won a contract to audit the projects of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 15 Arab countries. The Organization competed against international audit companies, in a competition held in New York in October.

A Palestinian company winning such a huge contract is of great importance, for this win will create many job opportunities and it will benefit the private sector. It also reflects the credibility and trust that this Palestinian organization gained on an international level in the auditing field.

New Job Opportunities

The CEO of the TAG-Org, Jamal Melhem, considered this agreement to be very significant and believed it will give the TAG-Org the opportunity to expand its work into countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and develop the cooperation with UN organizations.

The UNDP’s projects focus on areas that suffer from development problems, such as Palestine, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, as well as Tunisia and Morocco, but on a smaller scale.

Melhem said that the TAG-Org is going to need additional staff in the upcoming three years, in order to be able to fill the available vacancies and easily cover the work in some countries.

 The current team, located in Ramallah, consists of 30 employees and covers the projects in Palestine and its neighboring countries, through the help of the staff of the Talal Abu Ghazaleh offices spread over the majority of the Arab countries.

A Competitive Force

Maher believes that the TAG-Org’s competiveness derives from several factors. The first factor is company’s good reputation in all the fields it works in worldwide and in the Arab World. It is a leader in its field on a global level, and it is registered at the International Federation of Accountants.

Another factor is its team’s ability to move in the Arab region, which distinguishes it from other international companies who do not possess an understanding of the region and are afraid of sending their teams to it because they consider it an area of conflict.

Palestinian Products

Having the Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization audit the projects of the UNDP marks good news for those who criticize the policies of donors and international organizations that rely in the implementation of their projects on foreign services and products, , such as audit services, even when Palestinian alternatives are available. This limits the benefits created by the donations aimed at development.

Melhem demanded that there should be an official Palestinian move to stipulate in the donation and aid agreements that only Palestinian products can be used in the implementation of donor projects, in order to achieve real development and create job opportunities for youth. He mentioned that some parities used Israeli and foreign services, even though Palestinian ones were available.

The Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization is a group of firms specialized in audit services, financial and managerial consulting, training, recruitment and human resource development. It offers its services to customers in the private, public, and non-governmental sectors, and also to international organizations.

The TAG-Org was established by Talal Abu Ghazaleh in 1972, and it employs 2,500 people, the majority of whom are Palestinians. It has 85 branches worldwide and 180 representative offices.

Moreover, the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business in Jordan, the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh University College of Business in Bahrain, and the Abu-Ghazaleh Cambridge IT Skills Center in Amman, are all affiliated with the TAG-Org.