RAMALLAH, September 20, 2018 (WAFA) - The Palestine Trade Center (PalTrade) announced on Wednesday the names of the winning companies of the 2017 Palestinian Exporter Award during a ceremony held in Ramallah in the presence of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Minister of National Economy Abeer Odeh, Minister of Agriculture Sufian Sultan, and Tourism Minister Rola Ma’aya.
The winners of the prize were: Al-Ard (Land) Company for Palestinian Agricultural Products in the agricultural sector, which also won first prize; Beit Jala Pharmaceutical Company for the industrial sector St. George Hotel in Jerusalem for the tourism sector, Artizana for Embroidery and Handicrafts for companies owned by businesswomen, the Turkish-Palestinian Food Industry company for pioneering companies and Abu al-Zuluf for Oriental Artifacts for handcraft industry. Al-Bashir Company for Trade and Export from the Gaza Strip has received a Certificate of Appreciation within the category of the agricultural sector.
"Building an independent national economy is a big challenge but not an impossible task," said PalTrade president, Arafat Asfour. "The development of Palestinian exports is one of the most important pillars of economic development and the building of the state‘s economy."
He said Palestine faces many challenges, including challenges faced by the Palestinian exporter who despite all the difficulties has managed to create many success stories.
Asfour said that the Palestinian exporter has achieved successes in penetrating markets in more than 70 countries in the world, and based on the 2017 preliminary results issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Palestinian exports increased from $929 million in 2016 to $1.038 billion in 2017, up by 11.7%.
"Our stone and marble exports continue to top our Palestinian exports list, while performance of many other products has been promising. Exports from the dates sector have increased by 27% over the past year and by more than 100% over the past three years, achieving the highest growth rate of exports. Olive oil, fresh herbs and vegetables exports continued to grow at a promising rate of 5-10%, while exports in the pharmaceutical sector grew by 5%. Success stories are still being realized by many promising companies in sectors such as food industries, leather, footwear, textile, garments, furniture, plastic industries, metal, traditional industries and information technology," added Asfour.
Geographically, Asfour said, Palestinian exports grew between 2016 and 2017 in some strategic markets such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia by a rate of 24%. Exports to the United Arab Emirates rose from $18.6 million to $32.2 million and to Saudi Arabia from $14.7 million $18.3 million. Exports to the United Kingdom market exceeded 36%.
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