MAS Conference 2005: The Palestinian Economic Development Agenda in Turbulent Times
Founded in 1994, MAS has provided applied research to Palestinian policy makers on topical
economic and social policy issues for a full decade. Nevertheless, the challenges to ensuring an
economically and socially sustainable environment in Palestine are still enormous and the need to
enhance knowledge-based decision-making in the Palestinian public sector remains urgent.
Therefore, MAS decided to mark its 10th anniversary by organising a conference to assess and
discuss the Palestinian development environment. The main objectives of the conference were as
follows:
To summarise and debate the Palestinian development environment and its potential and
challenges.
To raise the profile of MAS in order to increase the impact of its future policy research studies.
The Conference was held on 13th April 2005 at the Best Eastern Hotel in Al-Bireh. It consisted of
three sessions, one of introductory speeches, including an opening speech by Prime Minister Ahmed
Qurei, and the following two each containing five papers on different aspects of the Palestinian
economic development environment. The day was concluded by a panel discussion and mass
debate.
In total, ten presentations were prepared by prominent experts from the Palestinian public and
private sectors and academia. The second session dealt with ‘The External Environment and its
Impact on Palestinian Economic Development’, defining the global and regional context of
Palestinian socio-economic development efforts. The third session focused on promoting ‘The
Effective Use of Economics in the Quest for a Viable Palestinian State’, providing analyses of the role
of the public, private, NGO and donor sectors in turn.
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