Ramallah – October 10, 2011 A workshop was held at the Ministry of National Economy chaired by the Deputy Minister and combined DGs at the ministry as well as IDMC to discuss the action plan of moving to decentralized provision of ministry services to the private sector, i.e., through ministry's offices in the governorates. The workshop was also attended by GIZ representatives; GIZ being the implementation party of the private sector development project (PSDP) funded by the German Government.

The workshop was opened by the Deputy Ministry, Mr. Abdel-Hafeeth Nofal, who reaffirmed the ministry’s intention and plan of decentralization in line with the ministry strategy and goals to improve business environment in Palestine. The decentralization Consultant, Dr. Amjed Ghanim, presented study and a plan of service decentralization taking into account the legal aspects of informatics and the electronic linkages between the districts and ministry center, the human resources capacity, and the availability of computerized information system necessary that lend itself for decentralization.

Director Generals and Directors of District Offices participated in the workshop and gave comments to ensure a successful transition process, and presented questions about the process and its controls. The consultant gave answers and clarified key implementation aspects of the decentralization process.