On Thursday, December 22, 2022, Palestine Trade Center (PalTrade) Signed a grant agreement with SMART Project’s efforts to eliminate policy and institutional constraints to competitiveness and trade. These constraints to the business-enabling environment (BEE) have long impeded the growth of Palestinian SMEs and start-ups. The Program seeks to enhance the competitiveness of the private sector through capacity building of institutions; to both improve service provision to member businesses and other stakeholders and to enable them to lead policy reform initiatives.

The grant from SMART-BEE will enable PalTrade to gain access to a global export market database and synthesize the data for dissemination to inform the export strategies of its members, most notably SMEs and start-ups who otherwise lack access to rigorous data on international markets. Additionally, SMART-BEE will support PalTrade’s efforts to advocate for national policy reforms to remove barriers to international trade that impede the growth of SMEs and start-ups in the Palestinian private sector. The partnership with PalTrade is a key step forward in USAID’s efforts to promote trade capacity building in the Palestinian private sector.

PalTrade was established in 1998 as a non-profit, membership-based organization to lead export development efforts. The organization advocates for a competitive business-enabling environment and provides export support services in the areas of export development, market intelligence, export promotion, trade missions, business-to-business meetings, SMEs inclusion, digitalization, export policy, and advocacy. 

SMART-BEE launched in September of 2022 with an open application window, welcoming all eligible and qualified Palestinian private sector institutions to submit concept notes for grant-funded BEE activities.

SMART Project is a Four-Year USAID-funded activity implemented by DAI Global. SMART provides rapid recovery and sustainable revitalization of the Palestinian private sector following the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis and other economic shocks.

to submit concept papers.

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