Palestine, India sign deals worth $36m 

The Palestinian government and India’s representative to Palestine, Sunil Kumar, yesterday signed protocols worth $36.1 million to build developmental projects in the fields of education, health and media.

Palestinian Minister of Education, Marwan Awartani, and Kumar signed the first agreement to build two schools in the governorates of Jenin and Tubas at a value of $2.1 million.

The second deal was signed by the Health Minister Mai Kaileh and Kumar at a value of $29 million to build the Indian hospital for orthopaedic, paediatric, gynaecology and internal medicine in Beit Sahour area in the south of the occupied West Bank.

The third agreement was signed by the General Supervisor of the Official Palestinian Media, Ahmed Assaf, at a value of $5 million to purchase equipment and machines for the new national printing press.

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Prior to the signing ceremony, which was held in the prime minister’s office in occupied Ramallah, the Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki handed Kumar a deed for a plot of land in Ramallah as a gift from the Palestinian government to India to build its temporary embassy until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital where the embassy headquarters would be located.

In February 2018, the Palestinian government and India signed agreements for project assistance worth $41.35 million.