Brussels, 14/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - The donor coordination group for the Palestinian Territories held its annual meeting in Brussels on 13 April, with EU High Representative Catherine Ashton in the chair and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad attending. The state-building process “has gained renewed momentum since 2009 when Prime Minister Fayyad set out a path for Palestinian statehood in a plan that the EU has supported both politically and financially”, Ashton said before the meeting. However, “it's clear that these achievements can only be sustained in the event of a political breakthrough” in peace talks, she added, stating that the EU would continue its efforts to take forward the process to bring peace to the Middle East, which is more than ever important in the current context of the unrest which is affecting the region and the Middle East as a whole.
After the meeting, Fayyad told press the meeting had been a key step as it was like “a birth certificate for the reality of a Palestinian state”.
An Ad Hoc Liaison Committee was set up to help realise the political efforts to bring about the two-state solution, including supporting institution building for a future Palestinian state. Since the last meeting, in New York in September 2010, further progress has been made in implementing the Palestinian Authority's two-year plan for the creation of a state. According to press reports, aid needs for the next three years are estimated at almost $5 billion.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Ashton and Fayyad signed the agreement on duty-free, quota-free access for Palestinian products (see related article). It was also agreed to back Palestinian attempts to gain observer status at the WTO, the World Trade Organisation, based in Geneva, said Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre who chaired the meeting. (F.B./transl.rt)