U.S. gives $150 million in assistance funds to Palestinian Authority

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U.S. gives $150 million in assistance funds to Palestinian Authority

2010-11-11 01:42:14 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday announced that the U.S. awarded an additional $150 million in assistance funds to the Palestinian Authority to support progress in Palestine.

“I am pleased to announce that the United States has transferred an additional $150 million in direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority. This brings our direct budget assistance to a total of $225 million for the year and our overall support and investment to nearly $600 million this year,†the State Secretary said.

The new funds will aid the Palestinian Authority pay down its debt, continue to deliver services and security to its people, and keep the progress in the region. Clinton added that the funding represents the U.S. commitment to support efforts to build a future Palestinian state that is able to govern itself, improve lives of Palestinians, and ensure security.

Clinton praised the efforts made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in combating corruption and producing results for the Palestinians. In Palestine new businesses are opening, taxes are being collected, services are being delivered, security is much improved and the economy is growing, Clinton said.

Despite the progress achieved so far, much more needs to be done as unemployment remains high, especially among young people. In addition, smaller communities has yet to benefit from the prosperity and the Palestinian Authority faces a serious budget shortfall.

The World Bank recently concluded that if the Palestinian Authority manages to maintain its momentum in building institutions and delivering public services, it is well positioned to establish a state at any point in the near future.

Since the inception of the Palestinian Authority, the United States has extended assistance of about $3.5 billion from 1994 to 2010. Approximately half of such amount was awarded in the form of budget support in the last three years.

Prime Minister Fayyad said that the Palestine Authority has accomplished the half of the three-year program launched in August 2009 to complete the task of capacity building, maturing governance processes and infrastructure of state.

The program was created in order to achieve readiness for statehood and Fayyad indicated that the current progress indicates that the nation is on the right path despite the difficulties and obstacles. The Prime Minister said that the Palestinian Authority expects to be state ready by summer of 2011.

Fayyad also remarked that his government is working to reduce need for external assistance. He informed that the necessity for foreign support has decline from $1.8 billion in 2008 to $1.2 billion this year, about one-third. The Palestinian Authority expects to reduce even more in 2011 and by 2013 attaining financial viability and no longer needing assistance.

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