Brussels, 16/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - With fewer than 10 days to go before the Palestinian elections of 25 January (see other article), the Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, is on a visit to the Palestinian territories, in Gaza and the West Bank, on 16 and 17 January, and will also visit Israel to hold talks with the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, and the interim Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. She will also meet members of the observation mission of the EU for the Palestinian elections, which is led by Member of the European Parliament Véronique de Keyser (Belgian Socialist). During her visit, Ms Ferrero-Waldner is to sign an agreement on supplementary aid of 1.4 million EUR to pay for the activities of the central electoral commission tasked with preparations for the Palestinian elections (the total EU aid for the electoral process will thus rise to 18.5 million EUR). The Commissioner will also announce an aid package of 3 million EUR, which will go to improve Palestinian border control and management capabilities. Half of this sum will go to the purchase of technical material and equipment (metal detectors, x-ray machines, etc) for the Rafah border crossing point, where the EU has been present since the end of November with a civil observation mission, and the other half to training programmes for the Palestinian customs services. A Commission press release also indicates that Ms Ferrero-Waldner will announce the launch of projects of a total value of 20 million EUR to improve basic services in Gaza (electricity supply, water treatment and waste disposal, amongst other things).