Palestine-India Sign $36 Million Grant Agreement

Ramallah, MINA – Palestine and India signed today $36.1 million grant agreements on Tuesday,19 Sept.

The signing ceremony took place at the Palestinian Prime Minister’s office in Ramallah and in his presence and included a $29 million agreement to establish the Indian hospital in Beit Sahour in the south of the West Bank signed by Minister of Health Mai Alkaila and the Indian Representative to Palestine Sunil Kumar, WAFA reported.

The hospital will specialize in orthopedic, pediatric, gynecology, and internal medicine.

The second agreement included $5 million for the National Printing Press and was signed by Kumar and Ahmad Assaf, General Supervisor of the Official Palestinian Media, while the third agreement for $2.1 million went for building two schools in the north of the West Bank signed by Minister of Education Marwan Awartani.

Foreign Minister Riyad Malki 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 on it until it moves it to Jerusalem after the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh thanked India for its generous support for Palestine, stressing that “our relationship with India has been historic since the time of the late President Abu Ammar (Yasser Arafat) and was continued by President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). We hope that the ties of friendship between the two countries will continue.”

For his part, Kumar said that “these are grants announced during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister to Palestine. Today we sign these agreements and we will continue to support Palestine at all levels.”(T/R3/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)