RAMALLAH, June 21, 2010 (WAFA)- Prime Minister  Salam Fayyad and the Consul General of France in Jerusalem Frederic Desagneaux signed on Monday an agreement on a financial support of €23 million by the French government to the budget of the Palestinian Authority for the year 2010.

This contribution is paid in application of the French-Palestinian framework partnership document signed in Paris in December 2009 by the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, and the Foreign Minister, Riyad Al Malki, which sets at €68 million a year during three years the total amount of French aid to the Palestinian Territory, i.e. around €200 million focused on supporting the water sector, the urban infrastructure and municipal development and the private and health sectors.

This contribution gives concrete expression to the support provided by France for the strengthening of the institutions of the Palestinian State in continuity with the Paris Conference of December 2007 for the Palestinian State and according the Palestinian Reform and Development Plan and to the program of the 13th government of the Palestinian Authority “Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State.”

During the signing ceremony, the Consul General of France emphasized that France wished to allocate this year a part of its budget support to programs in East Jerusalem amounting €3.5 million Euros, as it had allocated in 2009 an amount of 5 million Euros to reconstruction programs in Gaza following the conference of Sharm Al Sheikh.