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Hundreds of business and political leaders converged on the city of Bethlehem yesterday for a conference aimed at boosting the occupied West Bank’s stagnant economy through private investment. The first ever Palestine Investment Conference aims to spur investor interest by showcasing business opportunities and projects.
Deputy US Treasury secretary Robert Kimmitt, who is leading a US delegation to the three-day event, said his government hopes the event will bolster
a push to establish a Palestinian state. The conference was expected to draw about 500 Palestinian and foreign participants, including former British prime minister Tony Blair.
“There are some successful ventures that we want to share with the world,” Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad told businessmen who travelled to Bethlehem from the besieged Gaza Strip. The idea of the Bethlehem gathering was launched at a Paris conference of donors in December. The donors pledged $7.7 billion in assistance for the Palestinian territories, but at the start of this month only $717 million had been paid out.
The World Bank says that since 2000, the Palestinian economy has turned from one being driven by investment and private sector productivity to one sustained by government spending and donor aid. “After a good performance in the latter 1990s, the fragile Palestinian economy entered a gradual downward cycle of crisis and dependence,” the Bank said in a report published last month.
The West Bank’s economy is crippled by more than 500 Israeli roadblocks which hamper movement in the occupied territory. “There have been some improvements in recent weeks, but more certainly is needed to tap the potential of the Palestinian economy,” Kimmitt said on Tuesday. There was strong backing for the conference from the US, with major firms Intel and Cisco among the sponsors.
Jake Walles, the US consul in Jerusalem, expressed optimism about the initiative to encourage more investment in the West Bank. “Countries that have resources and... an interest in the establishment of a Palestinian state need to put those resources to use now in order to lay the groundwork for the establishment of that state,” he said.
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