The conference

Assessment of the conference
During the conference
Presentation of the Conference
Official statements on the Conference

 

Assessment of the conference

1. The International donors’ Conference for the Palestinian State has provided a strong signal of political and financial support to the government of President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and their vision of a future Palestinian State. This support will be essential to underpin the political process launched in Annapolis last November.

2. The Paris Conference has made evident the high degree of confidence of the international community in President Abbas and PM Fayyad’s reform and development programme. Delegations from 87 countries and international organisations pledged a total of $7.4 bn to support Palestinian institution-building and economic recovery for the next three years. Of this amount, $3.4 Bn has been pledged for 2008. This amount will include humanitarian assistance, which is essential and helps to relieve the daily lives of the Palestinian population, especially in Gaza.

3. The Chair and co-Chairs want to thank all participants for their pledges and call upon all those states and international organisations in a position to do so to assist in the development of the Palestinian economy, to maximise the resources available to the Palestinian Authority, and to contribute to the Palestinian institution-building programme in preparation for statehood.

4. Within this framework, the Chair and co-Chairs strongly urge a rapid disbursement of pledges, based on equitable burden-sharing among all donors. They encourage donors to provide budget support through the STA.

5. The PA’s programme, entitled “Building a Palestinian State”, is to be commended. It presents an ambitious but coherent, feasible macro-economic and fiscal agenda that is supported by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It clearly sets out the steps that the PA, together with the international community and Israel, must take in order to achieve its reform and development targets over the next 36 months. We are confident that the PA will continue to build on this plan to ensure the continuity of the reform process, including in the security sector.

6. The Chair and co-Chairs agree that no economic recovery would be possible without a substantial improvement in the conditions on the ground. They stress the need for shared responsability to be exercised by the Palestinians and Israelis to ensure that measures on the ground, especially on movement and access, are conducive to economic recovery and the implementation of the plan. Immediate steps, such as the implementation of quick impact projects, and the convening of private-sector stakeholders, must be supported.

7. The Chair and co-Chairs recall that the Paris Conference is an important step in a broader process which aims at a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. They stress their commitment to follow up the process at the highest level. They intend to meet on 22 January. The input to this work will take place in coordination with all parties involved, and within the established structures.

During the conference

  Opening of the conference by Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic.

Read the speech by Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the Republic (Paris, December 17, 2007)

"A page is turning. Time is of the essence: we have one year to achieve our purpose. Yet we are not starting from scratch. Sixteen years after Madrid, fourteen years after Oslo, seven years after the missed opportunity of Camp David and Taba, despite the failures and disappointments, one thing is clear: the taboos have been broken. We now know the parameters for a final settlement: they have been outlined by the United Nations resolutions, the principle of exchanging land for peace, the Quartet’s Roadmap and the Arab peace initiative. For us, it is now more a question of will than imagination. If we want to have it, we will."

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  Speech of the Palestinian President, Mr Mahmoud Abbas.

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  Speech of the UN Secretary-General, Mr Ban-Ki Moon.

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  Speech of Mr Blair, Representative of the Quartet for the Middle East.

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  Speech of Mr Stoere, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, chairman of the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) of international donors.

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  Speech of European Commissioner, Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

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  Speech of Mr Salam Fayyad, Palestinian Prime Minister.

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  Speech of Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.

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  Speech of Mr Juan Jose Daboub, Managing Director the World Bank.

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  Speech of Ms Tzipi Livni, Foreign Affairs Minister, Acting Prime Minister of Israel.

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  Speech of Mr Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League.

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  Speech of Mr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organisation of The Islamic Conference

See the photo gallery of the Conference

Presentation of the Conference

On 17 December 2007, France hosted in Paris a conference of donors for the Palestinian Territories, as proposed by the Palestinian President, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, and the Prime Minister, Mr Salam Fayyad.

Read the invitation letter (PDF, 8.4 kb)

This conference was the largest international conference of donors for the Palestinian Territories since the conference held in Paris in 1996.

The aim of this conference was to mobilise the donors, following on from the Annapolis conference, and to provide financial and political support to the Palestinian Authority. This support should enable the Palestinian Authority to develop the capacities to build a viable State.

France, the host country, was chairing this conference. There were three co-chairs:

  Mr Tony Blair, Representative of the Quartet for the Middle East,

  Norway, Chair of the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) of international donors,

  The European Commission.

Approximately 90 delegations were expected. Among those invited, in addition to the key political players in the peace process, were countries likely to make a significant contribution (Arab and Middle Eastern countries, the G8, the 27 EU Member States, major emerging countries, countries with a large population of Palestinian origin, etc.), the European Commission, the international and regional financial institutions (IMF, World Bank, the EIB, Arab funds, etc.), and the United Nations.

List of participants (PDF, 48.8 kb)

The conference based its work on the Palestinian Authority’s three-year reform and development plan for 2008-2010, the broad lines of which were presented on 16 November 2007.

Given the current circumstances, the Paris conference placed the emphasis on short-term priorities. The urgent matters were to stabilise the Palestinian economy and to implement rapid and efficient measures on the ground that would improve the everyday lives of Palestinians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The latest report from the World Bank (Restarting Palestinian Economic Recovery, September 2007) underscores that international assistance cannot have sustainable effects without a change in the situation on the ground. This is why the conference also addressed, in line with the Annapolis conference, the implementation of the movement of goods and persons measures in the Palestinian Territories.

France has assigned the general co-ordination of this conference to Mr Pierre Duquesne, France’s former Executive Director at the IMF and the World Bank.

Programme of the conference (PDF, 45.6 kb)

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Official statements on the Conference

  Session devoted to institutional reform speech by Mr Bernard Kouchner, minister of Foreign and European affairs - excerpts - (Annapolis, 27 November 2007)

"The [Palestinian] Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, presented to us a plan for reforming the Palestinian institutions and supporting growth. This plan, the first of this kind, is very solid. It maps out a path for the Palestinian Authority. It manages to provide a framework for short- and medium-term objectives both ambitiously and realistically. It is proactive and demonstrates budgetary common sense. This plan, I am sure, will be endorsed by the IMF and World Bank boards of governors next week."

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More information

  Countries and organizations invited at the Conference

  Read the answers on the Conference made by the Ministry Spokeperson during the press briefing on December 14, 2007

  Joint statement by Foreign and European Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner , Mr Tony Blair, Quartet special envoy for the Middle East, and Mr Jonas Gahr Stoere, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs

  Minister’s visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories (November 17 and 18, 2007)