Translated by Sabrin Qadah 

The Ministry of National Economy launched, on Sunday, a sectorial strategy for the development of the national economy 2017 -2022 in partnership between the Palestinian private and public sectors, which relied on government policy agenda approved by the Council of Ministers.

The ministry seeks to achieve four strategic objectives including an independent Palestinian economy in the forefront by reducing dependence on Israeli economy and orientation towards the Arab, regional and international economies in order to build an independent economy through the diversification of economic structure. The second strategic objective concentrated on a possible attractive business environment for investment and focused through reducing the cost of investment and creating a legal, regulatory and competitive framework to support policies and institutional capacity, as well as provision of infrastructure of industrial zones and others.

The third strategic objective has focused on a Palestinian leading and competing industry by working to increase the competitiveness of the national product and increase its share in the Palestinian market with the provision of supporting infrastructure for the growth of industry and the development of quality infrastructure. The fourth strategic objective, however, represented in organizing the internal market and consumer protection, through the activation of ways to control the internal market in order to ensure the safety of goods and their conformity with the Technical Regulations and the Palestinian specifications related, as well as ensure publicity of commodity prices in all markets and activate controls on imported goods.

Undersecretary of the Ministry of National Economy, Manal Farhan, expressed her thanks and appreciation for the national team who set up the strategy and the great effort that was put during the previous months. She confirmed that this strategy will be the nucleus for economic growth in the coming years, pointing out the essential role of the Palestinian private sector, whether in the preparation of the strategic phase or the implementation phase.

Farhan stressed the need for the effective implementation of this strategy through reflecting it on the annual plan of the ministry and the supporting institutions in full consultation with the private sector, the real partner for development.

In the same context Azmi Abdul Rahman, the national team coordinator for the strategy, expressed the great interest by national team members from government, private sector and civil institutions during the preparation of the strategy saying that this is what distinguishes this strategy from its predecessors. He has praised the role of gender unit and its activities, which resulted in the inclusion of gender policies in the terms of this strategy.

For his part, D. Odeh Shehadeh, the representative of the Coordinating Council of the private sector, stressed on the importance of the participatory role between government institutions and the private sector in order to improve and support the Palestinian economy. He also stressed the importance of this strategy and that it will be circulated to all private sector institutions to be an important economic reference in the implementation process of their programs and plans.

In turn, D. Sohail Sultan, an expert who has worked with the national team, pointed out to the systematic consultation with all relevant parties during the preparation of the strategy. The private sector as institutions, businessmen from the West Bank and from the Gaza Strip have been met, as well as with most of the donors, and supporting institutions to the Ministry of National economy.