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Corporate Social Responsibility
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7.16.2007 - 06:00pm ET
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Aspen Institute Announces International Public-Private Partnership to Assist Palestinian Businesses
(CSRwire) WASHINGTON, DC- July 16, 2007 — The Aspen Institute, in partnership with
the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Palestinian
Investment Fund (PIF), today announced the launch of the Middle East
Investment Initiative (MEII). MEII, an international collaboration of
leaders from the Palestinian, American, and European private and public
sectors, is a $160 million loan guarantee program dedicated to helping
improve the livelihoods of the Palestinian people. This program is part of
a broader effort to build a viable toolbox to help the Palestinians create
a more prosperous economic, political and secure future.
MEII's innovative loan guarantee program targets small and medium size
businesses which represent almost 90% of all registered Palestinian
businesses. The program offers Palestinian banks the incentive they need
to increase lending to these critical enterprises, providing the financial
support to expand and upgrade their operations. MEII will focus on light
manufacturing businesses such as textiles, garments, furniture, processed
food, stone, marble and pharmaceuticals. The initiative will help create
thousands of new jobs and give individuals a stronger stake in the future
of the region.
MEII was created in response to the rapidly deteriorating economy in the
West Bank and Gaza and the recognition that peace in the region will
depend in part on stable local economies. The current environment has
demonstrated the importance of economic investment programs such as
MEII.
The initiative has been in development for over two years and is the
outgrowth of discussions sponsored by Aspen’s Middle East Strategy Group
(MESG), one of Aspen’s policy programs chaired by former Secretaries of
State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, and Senators Dianne
Feinstein and Chuck Hagel. By law, OPIC needed a non-partisan private
sector partner to manage and operate the MEII program, and turned to Aspen
to be MEII’s operating agent.
Since late 2000, subsequent to the second "Intifada" turmoil and the
issues involving movement and access, the Palestinian economy has
virtually stalled, and gains made in the preceding decade have been nearly
erased. According to the World Bank, unemployment is estimated to be near
25%, the poverty rate is around 66%, and the healthcare, education and
social service systems are under increasing pressure.
"We resolved to make a difference," said Berl Bernhard, Chairman of the
Board of Trustees of MEII, and Chairman emeritus of the Aspen Institute.
"There is nothing theoretical about what we are trying to accomplish.
While the policy makers work at the diplomatic level, MEII will be at work
in local communities where improving the quality of people’s everyday
lives can help create an environment for peace".
To ensure the program’s successful implementation MEII has retained the
services of CHF International as its coordinating agent, a non-profit with
a long and respected history of running international lending programs.
The potential for MEII's success is clear. A 2004 study by the Portland
Trust looking at the possibility of such a Palestinian loan guarantee
initiative found that if investment capital was made available to them,
small firms anticipated a 400% increase in employment; medium and larger
businesses predicted a 240%; and firms across the sample predicted a 90%
increase in average output.
"MEII is a commitment to being one program in the international
community's robust toolbox for assisting the Palestinians in building a
sustainable economic development plan to improve the quality of life for
Palestinians during this critical time," said Toni Verstandig, MEII
Executive Director.
"I firmly believe the day will come when we can point to individuals,
families and communities in Palestine and say we made a concrete, tangible
difference—not only in individual lives but to the future of the region,"
said Bernhard.
A 501(C)(3) non-profit corporation, the MEII Board of Directors are:
Madeleine K. Albright
Berl Bernhard
Henry Catto
Ann McLaughlin Korologos
William E. Mayer
Thomas R. Pickering
Mara E. Rudman
The Middle East Initiative (MEII), an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit
corporation, was created by the Aspen Institute. Founded in 1950, the
Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to
fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded, non-partisan dialogue.
The Institute is headquartered in Washington, DC.
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