GA/PAL/1258
ROME, 28 February — As the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People continued today, experts highlighted the complex challenges of developing a self-sustaining economy under occupation and outlined programmes aimed at rebuilding the severely eroded Palestinian agriculture sector, ensuring high governance standards and generating donor support for reconstruction of Gaza.
The Seminar devoted its penultimate plenary meeting to discussions on support for the Palestinian economy and State-building efforts, as well as the broader effort to jumpstart — and maintain momentum for — full reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip, which was vital for sustaining and expanding the Palestinian economy. The meeting featured a panel discussion in which experts from intergovernmental bodies and the private sector identified obstacles to fostering economic growth in the context of occupation, particularly restrictions on people and goods, and opportunities provided by the Palestinian Authority’s successful institution-building programme.