RAMALLAH
Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Monday said that an economic blueprint drawn up by US Secretary of State John Kerry would stimulate the Palestinian economy and create job opportunities for Palestinian youth.
Kerry unveiled his economic stimulus plan for the Palestinian territories at the World Economic Forum in Jordanian capital Amman in mid-2013, saying the plan would be key to achieving lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis.
The plan includes $4 billion worth of investments in the occupied West Bank over the next three years.
The scheme seeks to raise the GDP of the Palestinian territories by 50 percent; reduce unemployment to 8 percent from a current 23 percent; and raise personal incomes by 40 percent.
Meeting in Ramallah with US senators Tim Kaine, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and Central and South Asian Affairs, and Angus King, member of the US Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, Hamdallah briefed the pair on recent developments pertaining to inter-Palestinian reconciliation.
Hamdallah said that fresh investment projects in Area C of the West Bank would help reduce the Palestinian budget deficit, boost tourism, and create new opportunities for Palestinian youth, the prime minister's office said in a statement.
The Palestinian premier went on to call for lifting Israel's seven-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip, according to the statement.
The Oslo II Accord, signed by the Palestinians and Israelis in 1995, divided the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C.
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