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Ramallah: Palestinian Authority
Prime Minster Salam Fayyad said on Tuesday he is confident his
government will have the institutional framework in place by the
end of the summer necessary to win global support for an
independent Palestinian state.
“It is our goal and our expectation that as a result of what we
are doing – getting ready for statehood, developing institutions
that delivery services competently and (developing) core values –
that our state of Palestine will be founded,” Fayyad said.
“I am very happy to tell you that in
many areas of governance we are already there", he added.
Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority’s No. 2, has been cracking down
on corruption and inefficiency as part of a two-year-old campaign
to gain recognition for a Palestinians state from the United
Nations General Assembly, probably in September.
Israel is opposed
to the plan, saying a state should be achieved through
negotiations, even though they have been deadlocked for months.
Fayyad said the PA’s economic bodies, including the Palestine
Monetary Authority and Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), were
already up to the standards he had set. He cited the Palestinian
CBS for special praise, saying it was close to meeting the
International Monetary Fund’s IIMF’s) highest benchmarks.
Palestinian statehood has been recognized by Brazil, Argentina,
Chile and other Latin American countries. France, Norway, Spain,
and Portugal have upgraded local Palestinian representations. But
Fayyad said that creating corruption-free institutions is as
important as winning international support for a Palestinian state
regarded as worthy of joining the community of nations.
Speaking at a venture capital conference in the West Bank city of
Ramallah, Fayyad said he was anxious to wean the PA off foreign
assistance both as part of the statehood drive and to encourage
foreign investment. As well as good government and functioning
legal system that can enforce contracts, investors want to
government to show sustainable budgets, he said.
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