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Leaders gather for Palestine
16/12/2007 16:49 - (SA)
Paris - Major powers and key donors meet in Paris on Monday for a conference aimed at raising billions of dollars to help the emergence of a viable Palestinian state and give political impetus to the newly-relaunched peace process with Israel.
Ninety international delegations are expected at the one-day Conference of Donors for a Palestinian State, the biggest of its kind since 1996, which aims to shore up the process jumpstarted in the US city of Annapolis last month.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is seeking $5.6bn spread over 2008 to 2010 for an ambitious development plan to underwrite a promised state and tackle economic hardship in the Palestinian territories.
High-profile delegates gathering for the occasion include UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will represent Israel, which is under pressure to lift restrictions on freedom of movement in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to allow the Palestinian Authority's plan to take shape.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair, peace envoy for the Middle East quartet - the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States - is co-chair of the event along with host country France, peace-broker Norway and the European Commission.
EU representation
Close to 70 countries will be represented, most at ministerial level, from the EU's 27 members to the major players of the Middle East, the Group of Eight industrialised nations, and emerging powers Brazil, China and India.
International organisations present will include the Arab League, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and European and Arab financial funds.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will open the proceedings, at Abbas' side, with a speech at 09:30 on Monday, before handing over to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner for the rest of the day.
At the US-sponsored meeting in Annapolis, Maryland last month, Israel and the Palestinians pledged to seek a peace deal by the end of next year, relaunching negotiations frozen for seven years.
Abbas has said he is confident Paris will clinch the necessary aid - 70% in budget support and 30% for development projects - sending a powerful signal of backing for the peace process.
"It is urgent to stabilise the Palestinian economy and implement measures on the ground that will improve the daily lives of Palestinians," said Sarkozy's spokesperson David Martinon.
A state in the making
The Palestinian development plan has been drawn up by the West Bank-based government of the economist Salam Fayyad, whom Abbas appointed prime minister when the Hamas radical Islamist group seized armed control of the Gaza Strip.
"The plan projects a vision of the state we want to have. A state in the making," Fayyad told AFP in an interview.
Aside from budget support, the Palestinians say the largest chunk of development aid would go to projects in education, health and women's emancipation.
Improving good governance is a top priority, along with developing the Palestinian private sector, export capacity and infrastructure.
Between 30 and 40% of projects would be in the Gaza Strip - with guarantees to ensure funds do not reach the Hamas militants in control of the territory, according to French and Palestinian sources.
- AFP
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