Government to establish fund to promote investment in Arab sector

Director General of the Prime Minister's Office Ra'anan Dinur announced Monday the timetable for the establishment of an investment fund aimed at promoting investment in the Arab sector.

The fund is to be jointly funded by the government and the private sector, and is expected to begin operating in April 2008. Dinur made the announcement at a Jewish-Arab conference for Arab business leaders at the "Sharon" hotel in Herzliya.

A tender to determine who will oversee the fund will be publicized in the coming December.

The aim of the investment fund is to reduce risks for bodies and individuals investing in the Arab sector in order to create quality jobs for Arab workers. The Prime Minister's Office initially plans to invest in 15 to 20 Arab sector businesses in order to promote additional investments in Arab entrepreneurship in Israel.

The government itself intends to invest some NIS 80 million in the fund, in addition to private capital it will recruit. Iman Sif, a financial adviser with the Prime Minister's Office, told Haaretz that the party that will win the tender to oversee the fund will be required to invest a sum similar to that invested by the state.

Dinur has previously announced his intention to establish this kind of fund and explained that one of its main goals would be to close the gap that currently exists between the Arab and Jewish business sectors.

According to data collected in 2006, the Arab population's part in the gross national product (GNP) stands on 8 percent, while Arabs comprise 20 percent of the country's population. The average per capita GNP in the Arab sector is $7,700, while the average per capita GNP among the general population is $19,000.