by Fatima AbdulKarim
RAMALLAH, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Ministry of Economy is taking steps to become the first e-ministry in the country, a Palestinian official told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"I initiated this idea to have an e-ministry because I believe in it and I know what it means to the business community ... because we want to develop our rank in doing business," said Palestinian Minister of Economy Khalid al-Esseily.
The Palestinian Ministry of Economy provides at least 60,000 services annually to a wide-ranging business community in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including official registrations, import and export licenses, as well as current assets registries and inquiries.
The ministry is currently moving to automate its services entirely through related projects that aim at digitalizing all its services and creating investor-friendly processes online.
Al-Esseily, with a private sector background, said he began this process as soon as he took office, inspired by the successful automation of services of the first Palestinian municipality 10 years ago, when he served as mayor of Hebron.
"We will have an automation for all the registration of companies, so you can register your company online. You don't need to come to the ministry to register," he said.
He added that "we will have a portal for the ministry and everything will be online for our investors."
Al-Esseily said that the government's strategy is to change the current situation, where the "the trade balance is not in our favor and has to be changed."
The minister explained that Palestinians import about 7 billion U.S. dollars while their exports do not exceed 1 billion dollars.
In order to reverse the current situation, al-Esseily said the government is working on increasing the demand for national products by encouraging more people to invest and produce high quality products with up to date machinery.
To encourage Palestinian exports, al-Esseily said the government is working to sign more international trade agreements.
