U.S.-Palestinian Partnership and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Host Palestinian Investment Forum
October 16, 2008At the Palestinian Business and Investment Forum, co-hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership (UPP) on October 14, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian Prime Minister H.E. Salam Fayyad called for stepped-up business investment and new partnerships as priorities in achieving peace and prosperity in the Middle East.
“As representatives of the Palestinian private sector, you are the real catalysts for Palestinian economic growth. The employment and economic opportunities that you offer will make a tangible difference in the lives of Palestinians and in their ongoing battle to end extremism among them. Your presence here today speaks to your faith in the future of peace between Israel and Palestinians and the willingness to invest in it. We promise to match your faith in that future and to do what we can to support your efforts to turn the wish and the hope into reality,” Secretary Rice said.
Following Prime Mister Fayyad’s remarks, in which he called business-to-business relationships a crucial factor in building a stable and successful Palestinian State, Jean Case, who, along with Walter Isaacson, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, serves as one of the co-chairs of the Partnership, praised Dr. Fayyad for his insight, inspiration and for “his true call to action: that Palestine is open for business. She also noted that those in attendance shared a belief in the potential of public-private partnerships. Case added, “[I]t is the unique and important role of the private sector to provide the seeds of economic growth and innovation, a role that these companies have embraced and that will serve as an example to others looking to invest.”
Ms. Case, who leads the Partnership’s Youth Development and Resource Centers efforts and has focused much of her work on helping create quick-impact economic initiatives that promote job creation and training, was joined by James Kunder, Acting Deputy Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and representatives from Intel, Cisco, and TouchStar as each of the companies announced millions of dollars in private investment in the West Bank and Gaza.
The investments are in programs focused on education, technical training, skill building, encouraging and training new entrepreneurs, and the launch of a call center that will employee more than 500 people. In total, and over time, the investments are expected to amount to more than $100 million.
The Plenary Session was the kick-off to a day of meetings and sessions at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s headquarters in Washington that included panels and discussions on information and communications technology, tourism in Palestine, and the pharmaceutical sector.
The Palestinian Business and Investment Forum is a U.S. Government initiative that was launched in 2007 with the Aspen Institute to leverage public-private partnerships to create economic opportunity for the Palestinian people.
