Abeer Odeh

Abeer Odeh (Arabic: عبير عودة, romanized: ‘Abīr ‘Ūda) is a Palestinian politician who is the first woman to serve as the Minister of National Economy in the Palestinian Authority. She has held multiple international positions in the fields of finance and economics.

Abeer Odeh
Minister of National Economy
In office 2015–?
President	Mahmoud Abbas
Prime Minister	Rami Hamdallah
Personal details
Born	1962 (age 62–63) Jerusalem, Jordan-occupied West Bank
Nationality	Palestinian
Education	BA in Accounting from Birzeit University MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
Alma mater	Northwestern University
Profession	Auditor Project Director at the World Bank Chief Financial Analyst at USAID Chief Executive Officer for the Palestine Capital Markets Authority Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Italy
Known for	First woman to serve as Minister of National Economy in the Palestinian Authority

Education

Odeh received her BA in Accounting from Birzeit University, in the West Bank. She received her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (1999–2001), in the United States.^[1] Odeh is also certified by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.^[2]

Career and activism

Odeh held multiple senior management positions within the private sector and with donor agencies.^[2] She worked as an Auditor in the public sector from 1987 till 1995.^[1] Odeh worked as a Project Director at the World Bank from 1998 till 2000. From 2001 till 2009, she worked as Chief Financial Analyst at USAID in the West Bank and Gaza. She spent six years working as the Chief Executive Officer for the Palestine Capital Markets Authority (PCMA) (from 2009 till 2015).^[1] In 2015, she was appointed the Minister of National Economy in Palestine, becoming the first woman to serve in this position.^[2] She served as Minister of National Economy three years. Currently, she is the Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Italy, since 2019.^[1][3][4]

As a Minister, she chaired the Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency (PIPA), Palestine Industrial Estates and the Free Zones Authority (PIEFZA), and the Palestine Standards Institute (PSI).^[2] Odeh is an advocate for Palestinian rights. As Ambassador from Palestine to Italy, Odeh released a statement calling for international support of Palestinian rights. In it, she highlighted Palestine's peaceful efforts to resist, but also noted that it is "understandable for an oppressed people to try to exercise their right to self-defense" (translated from Italian).^[3][5]