With twelve members present, Pal-Think elects a new board of directors

Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, a Palestinian non-profit company, organised this week the annual meeting of the general assembly of the shareholders to discuss the administrative and financial report and hold the elections of the board of directors, at its headquarters located in Gaza City. The meeting was held with the attendance of the counsellor Mr Yaqoub al-Ghandour, controller of companies at the Ministry of National Economy in Gaza, and Mr Ayman al-Khalidi, director of the department of oversight over companies, and with the attendance of 12 members of the company's general assembly, as well as the company's financial consultant Mr Abdel Hakim Abu Dgheim and the legal consultant Mr Mohammed Muhanna.

After the completion of the legal quorum for the meeting of the company's general assembly, Omar Shaban, chairman of the board of Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, opened the meeting welcoming everyone and affirming the important role Pal-Think for Strategic Studies plays in enriching, strengthening, and encouraging discussion, dialogue, and joint thinking around the issues that concern the present and future of the Palestinian people. He pointed to the importance of cooperation with the public institutions in the research field at the two levels, local and international, in order to elevate the research field and serve Palestinian society, and Omar Shaban affirmed Pal-Think's commitment to continuing its role as an independent national institution open to all the ideas and visions serving the Palestinian project and society.

Omar Shaban also presented a summary of the activities of Pal-Think for Strategic Studies during the year 2017, the most important of which was the completion of the Palestinian-reconciliation project funded by the Swiss government. Mr Omar also reviewed the partnerships that were built with the institutions during 2017, the most important of which was the signing of a cooperation agreement with Columbia University in New York to publish the research and working papers Pal-Think produced at the university. He pointed to the most important achievements Pal-Think obtained, as Pal-Think obtained the 74th place among the best research centres at the level of the Middle East and North Africa.

The word was given to the financial consultant Mr Abdel Hakim Abu Dgheim of the “al-Wafa company for auditing and financial consultancy”, where Mr Abdel Hakim presented a brief presentation of the financial report for 2017, and noted that the report includes the expenditures and revenues. Mr Abdel Hakim also read the financial report for 2017 in its text with the company's financial statements, and the shareholders unanimously ratified the two reports, the financial and the administrative, and discharged the company's board of directors for the administrative and financial year ended 2017.

Following the evaluation of the previous achievements and the discussion of the work plan and the future goals for 2018, the members of the general assembly thanked the previous board of directors for their efforts and their elevation of the Pal-Think institution in all the fields and projects during the period of their chairing the board, and the door of candidacy was opened for the election of a new board of directors for 2018 – 2020, where a new board of directors was elected, namely: Mr Omar Shaban, Dr Nasser al-Yafawi, Dr Fouad Hamada, Mr Alaa al-Ghalayini, Dr Nadia Odeh, Dr Marwan Tarazi, and Mr Faisal al-Shawa.