Excellences, Ministers, colleagues and friends,
Welcome to this meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC). Thank you to the United Nations for hosting us today. And to our co-sponsor the EU.
We are grateful that our friend the Prime Minister is with us, albeit through a digital connection this time, due to the unfortunate visa restrictions.
Friends, I must underscore that we would also have wished to have Israel present with us here today. Israel is part of the AHLC. The door will remain open until they decide to come back.
But with the urgent need for political and economic support to the Palestinian government, we cannot afford to let this platform be unused or paralysed.
This week has provided several meetings significant for bolstering the international commitment to the two-state solution.
The purpose of this meeting is to address one specific, but an immensely important part of that commitment. To support the role of the Palestinian government. Their role is crucial for the delivery of basic public services to the Palestinian people, the running of hospitals, schools, justice system, security forces. It is necessary to further develop the institutions, and a single governance structure for the Palestinian people: in all of Palestine, both in the West Bank and Gaza.
In this critical situation, donors need to take responsibility politically, but also economically. Budget support is vital for the survival and strengthening of the Palestinian institutions in the whole of Palestine. We thank those of you who have signed up for the Emergency support package, initiated by Saudi Arabia, Spain and Norway.
And we continue to request Israel to transfer the clearance revenues in full, as they are legally obliged to do, and to ensure corresponding banking relations.
If the PA were to collapse, we would not be able to “just put the pieces back together again”. We must do everything we can to safeguard what has been built through three decades, including here in the AHLC. For the sake of the right to self-determination, of stability – and for prosperity.
In addition to addressing the urgent needs, we must focus on the structural challenges.
The outcome document from the UN Conference in July identifies a number of concrete measures on how we again get the Palestinian economy back on a sustainable track. I would like to thank Japan for their role in chairing the Working Group on the Economic viability of the Palestinian State, together with Norway. And to all AHLC members for their contributions. We would also like to discuss the follow-up in today’s meeting.
Prime Minister Mustafa's reforms are crucial, when it comes to efficiency, service delivery, transparency, democracy, and financial reforms. I would like to highlight the EU’s pivotal role in supporting the reform agenda, in addition to other donors.
But the Palestinian Government does not have the same toolbox as other governments. We call on measures to promote Palestine’s economic independence. We support the full integration of Palestine into the International Monetary and Financial System. The unification of Palestinian territory under a single governance structure is also key, as it would have immediate positive economic implications.
After Prime Minister Mustafa of Palestine has given his presentation, which will be at the center of this meeting, we would also like to give the floor to Japan as our co-chair of the Working Group on the Palestinian economy. We will then hear from our host, the UN, and our co-sponsor, the EU. This will be followed by Ministers, countries and organizations who request to speak.
We are also delighted to have the World Bank, the IMF and the Office of the Quartet here to elaborate on what is needed in the current situation.
Friends, let’s be concise, to the point, and focused on practical measure/outcomes. We are all fully aware of how critical the situation now is. Our priority now must be to identify how we can further strengthen the Palestinian government and institution building, in order to advance the implementation of a two-state solution.
It is the only way forward.