Maher Masri
(1946 - )
Born in 1946 in Nablus,
Masri is married with two children. B.A. in Economics, American University, Beirut, Lebanon
M.A. in Economics, American University, Beirut, Lebanon
From 1973 - 75, Masri worked in private business in
Beirut, Lebanon.
From 1987 until 1996, Masri was the General Manager
of the Vegetable Oil Company in Nablus.
He served on the Board of Directors of several private sector enterprises
and was the Chairman of the Board of the Palestinian Development Fund,
a non-governmental organization that provides loans for industrial and
agricultural projects in Palestine. He was an economist in Beirut and
later worked in the private sector in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Masri was elected to the Palestinian
Legislative Council in 1996 representing Nablus.
From 1996-2002, Masri held the position of Palestinian Minister of Economy,
Trade and Industry. The Industry portfolio was added in June 2002. At
the same time, Masri kept his seat in the PLC. A proponent of a free
Palestinian market, Masri was responsible for negotiating the 1994 Paris
Economic Protocol with Israel, an agreement designed to build the Palestinian
economy on free market principles.
He is a member of the PLO Negotiation Affairs Department.
and was a member of the Palestinian delegation at the Camp
David negotiations (2000).
In his position as Minister of Economy and Trade, Mr.
Masri serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Palestinian Investment
Promotion Agency; the Palestinian Industrial Estates and Free Zones
Area and the Palestinian Banking Corporation. He was a member of the
Board of Directors of the Palestinian Investment Fund. In 2003, he was
nominated as the Minister of Economy and Trade for the new Palestinian
Authority Cabinet. He is a member of Fatah.
Masri is from the prominent Al-Masri family in Nablus.
His cousin Munib Masri, a Palestinian educated in the U.S., is Chairman
of the Palestinian Development and Investment Co., also known as Padico.
Padico is the largest privately owned conglomerate
in the Palestinian territories. Padico subsidiaries control the telephone
network, under PalTel (which has a 25 year monopoly). Padico is a holding
company for multiple Palestinian businesses including real estate, bank,
insurance and electric companies.
Masri's brother Tahir al-Masri is a former Prime Minister
of Jordan.
Sources: Palestine-PMC.org; CNN.com;
MiddleEastReference.org.uk; nad-plo.org; PBS.org,
(August 9, 2002); AMIN.org; New
York Times, (May 10, 2000) |