Message from
PSC chairwoman
Maha Abu Shusheh
The past few
months have been rather hectic for the PSC, which is now
officially registered with the Palestinian National
Authority as a Non-Governmental Organisation. The number of
registered members has grown from 17 co-founders in January
2006 to 145 in august 2006, representing various sectors and
regions that are virtually linked through the Council's
website,
www.psc.ps.
The Council has
successfully solved problems reported by members, with
tangible benefits for the shipping community in terms of
cost reductions and trade opportunities. PSC has also
established strategic partnerships and will be signing
memoranda of understanding with relevant institutions to
obtain favourable rates and shipping conditions. It will
also deliver tailor-made training activities to strengthen
the members' institutional capacities.
Of course, all
these achievements could not have been materialized without
the support of our members. They have provided us with the
platform to achieve visibility in a short time, and their
views and suggestions have been critical for ensuring
responsiveness to the shipping community's needs.
Message from the
EU
First Secretary,
European Commission Technical Assistance Office (West Bank,
Gaza Strip): Mark Gallagher
The European
Commission is, through UNCTAD, supporting the establishment
of a Palestinian Shippers’ Council (PSC). In this way, the
European Commission is able to tap into UNCTAD's significant
experience in establishing such bodies across the world and
offer concrete support to the Palestinian private sector.
The establishment
of a single organisation to help all Palestinian importers
and exporters will be a major step forward for the
Palestinian economy. Palestinian businesses need to trade
for the Palestinian economy to thrive and this is one way to
help ensure that Palestinian companies can access good
advice about transporting their goods to international
markets. Sadly, obstacles to movement and access even
within the Palestinian territories severely hamper the
Palestinian economy, as noted repeatedly by the World Bank,
and therefore separately, and together with the rest of the
international community, the European Union is also
continuing its efforts to ensure easing of the Israeli
closure regime and develop border arrangements which allow
the Gaza Strip, in particular, to develop.
The main
objective of the PSC is to assist Palestinian importing and
exporting companies promote their trade with specific advice
on shipping their goods to important markets. The PSC will
increasingly serve as a key information source for the
Palestinian private sector and the Palestinian
Authority.
It will also be able to assist decision-makers at the
regional and international level in negotiations to overcome
economic
and transport obstacles.
The PSC will also
play an important role in raising the Palestinian shipping
community’s awareness of the efforts of the European Union
and other members of the international community in
facilitating trade. Its technical experience will support
the Palestinian Authority's negotiations with third parties
on trade and transport arrangements and other trade-related
matters. We hope that the project will also improve
relations between Palestinian and Israeli shipping and
forwarding organisations, as well as sector organizations
such as the Israeli Shippers’ Council and port management
companies.
The good news is that the project is not "just talk". UNCTAD
has navigated the project through its first six months of
implementation at a very difficult time, and the PSC has
attracted 92*
founder
members from across the Palestinian territory. It has
developed working relations with relevant local, regional
and international organisations, begun disseminating trade
related information to its members, and launched its
newsletter and website. It has also managed to establish an
office in Gaza.
Most importantly, the PSC is actively engaged in addressing
shipping related problems reported by its members, such as
securing additional free storage days for Palestinian goods
at the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifa (relieving
Palestinian shippers from extra storage costs resulting from
the delays they regularly experience in the clearance
process), negotiating cost reductions associated with
renting storage areas at Al-Montar (Karni) - the main
commercial crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip- and
undertaking contacts with the Israeli Ministry of Trade and
Industry concerning the annual quota for Palestinian imports
of powdered milk.
Although to the
outsider these may seem small steps, for Palestinian
businesses facing both severe restrictions in getting goods
to market and a dramatic deterioration in the economy, they
should not be underestimated. Both UNCTAD and the European
Commission hope that, despite political instability, Israeli
closures and the deepening economic crisis, Palestinian
traders will increasingly see the PSC as an effective new
initiative to promote trade, and in this respect distinct
from a number of previous efforts which have had little
concrete impact. In addition, the examples of what traders
can achieve by working together through the PSC, may, it is
hoped, help those who have previously preferred to work
individually (and this is especially the case in Gaza which
now faces a disastrous economic situation) to see the
benefits of a collective
approach.
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