Ramallah, December 24, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) -Ramallah-led Government Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad and the European Union signed Wednesday three agreements worth €50.5 million to support several sectors.

D. Fayyad pointed out that the first agreement which worth 22 million Euros to boost the economy of the Gaza Strip, through providing support for private sector which was damaged heavily in the recent Israeli war on the sector.

He added that, the second agreement of value18 million Euros and aimed at funding infrastructure projects, while the third which worth15.5 million Euros to support the local government sector and social development.

The programs will start in 2010, signaling another year of large-scale support from the EU, whose funding to the PA and humanitarian work in Palestine reached 498.63 million euro (710 million US dollars) in 2009.

European Union Representative Christian Berger signed the three new agreements along with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, as part of what an EU statement called "the continuous support provided by the European Union to the Palestinian Authority."

For his own part, Fayyad welcomed the agreements, saying that they come at a time where the Palestinian people are in need of all kind of continuous support in order to be able to build state institutions and develop its sectors. Such agreements also help the Palestinian people to face the needs and obstacles they live with, and provide the possibilities to continue in the development process, the statement said.

The largest amount of support came in support for Palestine's private sector in Gaza, with 22million Euro (31.5 million US dollars) to support the regeneration of economic activity in the Strip. "On this occasion," Berger noted, "I would like to recall the European Union position that calls for the flow of aid, trade, and persons in order to improve the living conditions of Gaza people and to allow for reconstruction and economic recovery." 

WAFA