fEfforts to reactivate the international initiative for the financial sustainability of the Palestinian government
Ramallah, January 18, 2026 (WAFA) – Spain pledged to mobilize donor countries to renew the previous initiative it worked on with Saudi Arabia, France and Norway, with the aim of recruiting new grants for the “Emergency Alliance for the Financial Sustainability of the Palestinian Government” fund, to enable it to continue providing vital services in light of the continued withholding of clearance funds for the ninth consecutive month .
This came during talks held by Finance and Planning Minister Stephan Salameh with a number of senior Spanish officials during his recent visit to Madrid, at the invitation of the Spanish Foreign Ministry .
Salameh explained that Spain and its partners are making efforts to renew the international grants to the fund, so that it includes other donor countries in the future, stressing that Spanish support for Palestine is not linked to any preconditions .
It is worth noting that the member states of the International Coalition for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, led by France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, contributed $200 million to the fund, with Saudi Arabia contributing $90 million of it. This enabled the Ministry of Finance to secure some of its obligations during the past months, including salaries and expenses, to ensure the sustainability of vital sectors and basic services, especially in light of the continued occupation’s complete halt to the transfer of Palestinian tax revenues .
Salameh welcomed Spain’s pledge to increase the pace of development support to the State of Palestine to 75 million euros over the next two years, allocate a new payment to support the budget, and increase the support provided by the Spanish government to UNRWA and humanitarian interventions in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank .
The Minister of Finance and Planning appreciated Spain’s political support for the rights of the Palestinian people, and the role that Spain plays in the institutions of the European Union to mobilize political, financial and developmental support for the State of Palestine, and urged the influential countries in the Union to take concrete measures to confront the Israeli policy aimed at imposing facts on the ground .
The visit included meetings with Foreign Minister José Manuel Bueno, Secretary of State for Foreign Relations Diego Martínez Bello, and Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sport Mila Gros-Turón, as well as the Chair of the International Cooperation Committee in the Spanish Parliament, Susana Ros Martínez. The Minister of Finance and Planning also met with the Director General of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, Anton Leys García, and the Advisor to the Spanish Prime Minister, Pilar Sánchez Villa .
ــــــــــــــــــ
S.K
About the Author
