On April 29, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with a small group of U.S. private sector leaders to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the strategic importance of U.S. private sector investment in the West Bank. She was joined by leaders of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership (UPP), including chairman Walter Isaacson, co-chairs Jean Case and Ziad Asali, and USAID administrator Henrietta Fore.

UPP is working to support the Palestinian Authority's upcoming Palestine Investment Conference, which will be hosted by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on May 21-23, 2008, in Bethlehem. The purpose of the conference is to showcase local investment opportunities, with the goal of improving economic and social living standards in Palestine.

The U.S.-Palestinian Partnership is developing quick-impact projects to promote job creation in the West Bank, including the creation of an Arabic-language call center in East Jerusalem and the establishment of a mechanism to attract foreign investment in the Palestinian private sector. UPP is also working to launch five youth development and resource centers in the West Bank.