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A workshop in Ramallah to discuss the experience and new strategy of PADICO

2010-02-03

Ramallah- Al Ayyam: Palestine Development and Investment Company PADICO organized a workshop in Ramallah on last Wednesday, targeting a debate on the strategic aspirations of the company, especially in light of management changes experienced by the company since about a year and a half. The workshop was attended by leaders from the private sector and former ministers and officials of relevant government institutions. The workshop was supervised by Dr. Hisham Awartani the director of the private sector development institute, where he pointed out that PADICO is a pioneering experiment in the return of Palestinian capital to the Palestinian homeland, which is the demand that has long talked about by everyone, and has been considered an essential form of struggle which aims at deepening the struggle of the citizens on their land instead immigration in search of a livelihood. Awartani said that this experience of over by more than 15 years was full of lessons, especially for the readiness of the legal and regulatory frameworks to deal efficiently with investors from abroad. Meanwhile, Munib Al-Masri the Chairman of PADICO indicated the reasons that prompted the group of Palestinian businessmen working abroad to divert part of their investments to the homeland, stressing out that the achievement of more of profits was not the goal sought by the company"s founders, but the most important goal for them was and still is to build a local national economy helps creating more jobs and cut the economic dependence on Israel, and to reduce reliance on grants and foreign aids. Masri also stressed the need for PADICO and all the companies and Palestinian businesses institutes to make intensive and continuous efforts to direct part of its investment to Jerusalem, which is suffering from very difficult economic conditions. He added: PADICO has implemented a number of projects in Jerusalem and looks forward to further investment in the holy city, in collaboration with other partners from home and abroad. For his part, Mr. Samir Huleileh the Chief Executive Officer of PADICO made a presentation on the stages of the company since its inception until now, where the company went through three stages; the first stage in the period between the year 1994 - 2000 by initiating "PADICO" to invest in key economic sectors had contributed to the establishment of the first telecommunications company, and the first financial market and the first industrial zone in Gaza and the first five-star hotel in Bethlehem, and with the coming of year 2000, the company had gained $ 7 million. Huleileh added that the second phase between 2001 and 2003 He added that the second stage between 2001- deterioration politically and economically, with a negative impact on the performance of PADICO"s profits, but the years 2004 and 2005 witnessed a remarkable increase in revenues as a result of the substantial improvement on the performance of local and regional stock markets and while profits fell again in 2006 with the victory of Hamas in the elections, and then to a record high in 2007, which achieved a profit of $ 38 million. Huleileh added that the company"s board in 2008 approved the new strategic orientations of PADICO, which included a shift from a focus on portfolio management to focus on operational activities, which PADICO had taken several steps in this direction.