RAMALLAH, October 17, 2010 The French Agency for Development (AFD) is celebrating its 10 years of commitment in the Palestinian Territories and has organized on this occasion a reception on Sunday October 17 in the presence of the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Salam Fayyad, AFD’s General Director Dov Zerah and the Consul General of France in Jerusalem Frederic Desagneaux.

About 200 guests attended this event hosted at the Mövenpick Hotel in Ramallah. The AFD’s activities in the Palestinian Territories and their impact on the local population have been presented through a 10-minutes video and an exhibition of photos.

The AFD committed 180 million euros for the Palestinian Territories, mainly in projects related to water and sanitation, municipal and local development, health and support to private sector development. Projects financed by the AFD during the last 10 years have, for example, provided or facilitated access to water to more than 800 000 people, developed more than 500 micro-projects implemented by NGOs and municipalities and have generated over one million working days.

The AFD’s Director General, who is visiting the Palestinian Territories for the first time, met the Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and will meet the main partners of the Agency in the Territories to benefit from the lessons of past and ongoing actions in order to define the cooperation’s future guidelines.

The Director General has signed on Sunday October 17 with the Minister of Planning and Administration Development Ali Jarbawi and the Consul General of France in Jerusalem Frederic Desagneaux a new Financial Agreement of 4 million euros to support the construction of the waste water treatment station project in North Gaza, in addition to the first agreement of 12 million euros already committed.

Field visits related to urban infrastructures and supply of water projects are also planned in the governorates of Nablus and Jenin as well as a visit of the Bethlehem Industrial Park.