Improving Trade Facilitation and Customs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Tasdeer)
Middle East and North Africa
The Trade Facilitation and Customs Support in the Occupied Palestinian Territories programme, known as “Tasdeer”, is FCDO’s flagship economic development and growth programme in Palestine, which Cowater delivers in partnership with Business Integrated Solutions (BIS), Core Associates and Al Athar.
Working across the West Bank and Gaza, Tasdeer supports the stabilisation and development of the Palestinian economy by improving the private sector’s competitiveness and the Palestinian Authority’s capacity in trade, customs, and import policy regulation, whilst promoting equitable access to the benefits of economic growth and improved institutional capacity. This promotes the UK’s policy aim to preserve the viability of the two-state solution by building a capable and accountable Palestinian state, supporting the most vulnerable, supporting economic growth and creating jobs.
Tasdeer applies a holistic, partnership-driven model that addresses impediments at the policy, institutional, and firm levels. We work flexibly with the Palestinian Authority, including the Ministry of National Economy, the Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, in addition to the private sector and trade-enabling institutions.
Our work focuses on impact across three interrelated areas:
- Strengthening economic and trade policy, planning and governance.
- Improving trade-enabling institutions’ capacity.
- Driving private sector competitiveness through cost-shared investments and grants.
Through a flexible and adaptive delivery model, Tasdeer has achieved outstanding results, including creating over 1,400 jobs, increasing private-sector sales by $30m, developing the National Industrial Policy Framework, and leading the way on economic planning for recovery and reconstruction in Gaza.
