Japan co-hosts Conference on Cooperation for Palestinian Development
Tokyo, Japan (4E) – Japan is co-hosting the Conference on Cooperation among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development (CEPAD) with the Palestinian Authority.
According to the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs website the main objectives of the Conference are to suupport Palestinian efforts for state building by sharing East Asian countries’ experience in economic development and expertise in assistance to Palestinians among participants, and discussing effective ways of cooperation, so as to promote the Middle East peace process and regional stability.”
According to a Japan newspaper article during the conference which started Feb. 13 in Tokyo, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad urged East Asian donors to share their wealth and knowledge for nation-building efforts in his troubled region.
Fayyad said that East Asia’s experience is inspiring.
Participants in the conference were ministers and senior officials from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam, the United Nations, the World Bank, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the Islamic Development Bank and the Arab League.
China was not part of the conference.
Fayyad complained that Israeli occupation and hardline policies against Palestinians have hampered the development of a sustainable political process as well as that of social and economic institutions.
He asked East Asian nations for help in a wide range of areas “to benefit from vast wealth of experiences and expertise that your countries have amassed over years of development”.