Special points of interest

	PSC was launched on April 11th 2006.
	Established offices in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
	Four free days of storage was extended to 6 days at ports.

Inside This Issue

	Message from the       Chairperson
	Message from the Manager
	The structure of  the PSC
	Summary of Roles & Services
	Importance of the Shippers’ Councils Worldwide
	Workshops
	PSC’s Achievements
	Work in Progress

The structure of the Palestinian Shippers’ Council

The PSC was established to form a national shippers' council that is capable of addressing the needs of Palestinian importers and exporters (the shippers' community) and supporting Palestinian reform and long-term trade development efforts. The establishment of  the PSC was achieved through a technical cooperation project between: 

	European Commision and its technical Assistance office (ECTAO) for the West bank and gaza, which is fudnign the project;
	the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which is implementing and providing technical support to the project;
	United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and
	the Palestinian Trade Center (PalTrade), which is providing local outreach and logistical support for the PSC during its start-up period.

The PSC Preparatory Committee (Prep Com) was established to guide the project and ensure national ownership at an early stage; it was an early outcome of consultation with Palestinian Ministry of National Economy (MNE), PalTrade, UNCTAD and major Palestinian shippers. The Prep Com is constituted of seventeen member’s representative of various regions and import/export sectors. Four of these members are from Gaza and the rest are from West Bank. The PSC Prep Com is acting as UNCTAD’s counterpart in the implementation of the project activities. It will be dissolved by the end of 2006. By then an independent, formally registered and functional PSC will be established, with an elected Management Committee that will assume the functions of the Prep Com.  

Once fully constituted, the PSC is expected to have a General Assembly of full (voting) members (shippers) and associate (non-voting) members (forwarders, transporters, trade-promotion and industrial or professional associations etc). Its Management Committee will work through standing Working Groups composed of active members on specific issues/sectors.  

The PSC aims to represent and protect the interests of all Palestinian shippers that are end-users of maritime shipping, air freight and land transport, in their dealings with: 

	Transport services providers (shipping companies, forwarders, customs brokers, inland transportation and warehouse operators).
	Relevant government authorities (Customs authorities, Port authorities, Standards Institutes).
	Relevant regional and international bodies.

Objectives:

	Constitute and register the PSC as a legally established and recognized shippers' council and a representative of the Palestinian shippers' community.
	Contribute to Palestinian economic development and trade expansion through measures that promote trade efficiency and facilitation at all stages of the maritime and related transport logistical chain.

Mission:

To promote the interests of Palestinian shippers, represent them in dealings at the national and international levels with transport providers, regional and international port authorities and relevant Palestinian National Authority  institutions and to co-ordinate with different trade facilitation projects targeting the shippers' sector.

The following figure shows the structure of the Palestinian Shippers’ Council: