Corporate Governance

• Developing the Code of Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) in Palestine:

Pursuant to the approval of the new Companies Law No. (42) of 2021, the update of the Code of Corporate Governance Rules in Palestine will be completed during the year 2023 by incorporating the requirements of the new Companies Law into the Code. It is expected that the first draft will be completed and shared with the relevant authorities before the end of the year in order, to obtain the comments of those parties. It is worth mentioning that updating the Code began during the year 2021, in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

• Corporate governance course program in Palestinian universities:

Through the signing of a cooperation agreement between the PCMA and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and tripartite cooperative agreements involving the PCMA, the International Finance Corporation, and the universities interested in the inclusion of the course, the program of integrating the governance course with Palestinian universities continued. Four Palestinian universities included the course in their teaching plan during the year 2022: Birzeit University, Palestine Technical University-Khadoori, Al-Quds Open University and the Arab American University. In the same context, the number of applicants for the course since the launch of the program, until the end of the first semester of the academic year 2022/2023, reached 5,804 students, out of whom 5194 students passed the course successfully, with a success rate of 89%, while the percentage of students who did not pass the course reached 11%, corresponding to 610 students, as shown in the below chart. Students passing the course receive a certificate approved by the PCMA and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Chart number (2) shows the distribution of students applying for the course by gender. The percentage of male students reached 34%, compared to 66% female students.