The Middle East Investment Initiative (MEII) is proud to announce that USAID Administrator Samantha Power has selected the Honorable George R. Salem as the inaugural Board Chair for the Partnership for Peace Fund (PPF) Advisory Board.  

The Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA) established the PPF and George will lead and coordinate the activities of its 12-member Advisory Board, the main objective of which will be to advise USAID on matters concerning the People-to-People Partnership for Peace Fund.  

MEPPA was created specifically to fund projects and strengthen personal relationships between Israelis and Palestinians, with the understanding that peaceful coexistence is untenable without people-to people engagement working towards a sustainable two state solution. MEPPA has allocated $250 million over a five-year period for USAID and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to help achieve this goal. The PPF Board Members were appointed by a bipartisan group of Members of Congress and are expected to provide critical guidance from their decades of experience in the region and important insights on the types of projects USAID should support. The Board will also advise on recommended partnerships with international organizations and foreign governments, and report to Congressional Committees.  

MEII is a non-profit organization whose mission is to stimulate sustainable economic activity and long-lasting job creation in the Middle East and North Africa by designing and deploying finance and technical assistance programs to benefit entrepreneurs and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). With offices in Ramallah, Amman, Tunis and Washington, D.C., MEII was founded with the conviction that social and political stability requires a sound and sustainable economic base.  George has served as a board member since MEII’s inception in 2008 and as its co-chair along with Ambassador Martin Indyk since 2021.