The Minister of Labor, Dr. Mamoun Abu Shahla said that he discussed with the representative of the Islamic Development Bank – Jeddah, during a meeting of the Advisory Committee that emanating from the Board of Trustees of the Economic Empowerment Project (Deep) in the Jordanian capital, Amman, move and transfer the working on the project (Deep) that is being implemented by the United Nations Development Program UNDP to the Palestinian Fund for Employment and Social Protection for Workers (PFESP).

Abu Shahla explained that he expects to move the working on the project (Deep) from the UNDP Foundation to PFESP during the coming year, while continuing to work and cooperate with the United Nations program and to benefit from its experience and its being an international institution.

Abu Shahla added that he reviewed during the meeting that was held by a guidance of the Council of Ministers, and the Minister of Social Development Dr. Ibrahim Al-Shaer and Nasser Qatami the Advisor of the Prime Minister of the Arab and Islamic Funds, in addition to Adel Atallah, the Advisor of the Chairman Of the Bank Management Board and Al-Mansour Bin Fatti, the Director of the Trust Fund In the Bank and representative of UNDP create plans for PFESP in the fight against unemployment and the implementation of developmental and employment projects.

Abu Shahla reviewed during the meeting the dangers inherent in the high rate of unemployment in Palestine, which exceeded 40% and exceeded the number of unemployed four hundred thousand unemployed.

Abu Shahla Said: That the aggravation of the unemployment crisis threatens not only Palestine but also the states of the region in general, calling for concerted efforts, especially from the Islamic Bank to address this phenomenon and put an end to it.

The Project is implemented by PFESP in cooperation with the Developmental Program of the United Nations, UNDP and funded by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) grant and the Islamic Development Bank, and re-creating the momentum to it before the end of the next month.

And he said: “The project will provide about two thousands additional job opportunities for graduates to add to about 700 job opportunities that have been provided since the project was launched less than a year ago.

In the same regard, Abu Shahla the Chairman of the Management Board of PFESP explained that the financing of several important projects will be presented during the meeting of the Arab and Islamic Funds Management Committee in the next October, which will take several of general decisions in regarding to the financing of a package of projects related to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.

Abu Shahla expressed his optimism for the support that is needed to carry out these important projects.