Ahad 02 Mar 2014 20:49 WIB

JICA, IDB sign CEAPAD Facilitation Mechanism to support Palestine

Foto: Antara/Andika Wahyu

A woman (left) buys ceramic made by Palestine in an exhibition in Jakarta on March 1-2. The expo is held coincidentally with the 2nd Conference on Cooperation Among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development (CEAPAD II).

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and Palestine signed the CEAPAD Facilitation Mechanism to support self-efforts by Palestinians.

JICA's Senior Special Officer Kunio Okamura, IDB's President Ahmad Mohammed Ali Al-Madani and Palestine's Minister of State Planning and Development Mohammed Abu Ramadan signed the CEAPAD Facilitation Mechanism (CEAFAM) as one of the outcomes of the meeting, Cooperation Among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development (CEAPAD) II, on Saturday.

CEAFAM was funded by the Japanese Government, IDB, and East Asian countries to support development of agriculture, tourism, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and light manufacturing, with technical assistance being provided by JICA.

JICA's spokesman Kotaro Tanaka said JICA and Japan would run parallel funding of those sectors, as well as boosting socio-economic recovery and capacity development in the public, social and private sectors.

"Under the CEAFAM, we want to pull together resources and expertise from the CEAPAD participating countries' governments, development institutions, as well as private and civil-society entities, to advance the socio-economic development of Palestinians," he said.

CEAFAM will administer all aspects of financial management, and assist partners to design and implement selected projects in close coordination with Palestines Ministry of Planning and Development, local communities and donor partners.

Previously, during the opening event, Japans Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fumio Kishida, stated that the Japanese Government had provided 1.38 billion USD since the Oslo Accord in 1993 for assistance to Palestinians to help in development of a governing system and to improve the livelihoods of men, women and children.

CEAPAD II was hosted by Indonesia and saw 27 delegations participating from East Asian countries and international organizations. Indonesia, Japan and Palestine were the co-chairs of this conference.