Press release 20 May 2008
Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Ewa Björling to attend Palestine Investment Conference in Bethlehem

On 21-23 May, Minister for Trade Ewa Björling will be in Bethlehem to take part in the first high-level conference on investments that is being arranged in the Palestinian territories - the Palestine Investment Conference. Dr Björling has been invited by the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, whose idea it was to hold the conference.

"The purpose of the conference is to increase private investments to the Palestinian territories and strengthen commercial exchange with the wider world. This is a very commendable initiative and it places the focus on an important element of the peace process, and one that sometimes gets slightly overshadowed. Increased trade is an important instrument for bringing people closer together and for laying the foundations of sustainable economic development," says Dr Björling.

Participants of the conference are expected to include the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas, France's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Bernard Kouchner, the Middle East Quartet's envoy Tony Blair and EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, as well as a large number of international business representatives.