The extent to which Israeli industry has developed since this country achieved statehood is being currently demonstrated as the nation marks Israel Industry Week. Government officials and industrial leaders have united to present a picture of the country’s industrial growth. Newsmen have been taken on tours of heavy and light industrial enterprises to be shown the importance of the new industries to the national economy.
Near Migdal Ascalon they were shown the Yuval Gad concrete pipe plant where Deputy Minister of Agriculture Y. Esfrati told them the plant was making an important contribution to the country’s food supply since its output was allocated to construction of water pipelines in the Negev. The factory, which has been in operation only a few weeks, is now producing about 500 feet daily of 36-inch diameter pipe. It will soon begin production of 30-inch diameter pipe.
At the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, where they visited the Argaman dyeing factory, Minister of Communications Dov Joseph stressed to the newsmen the importance of simultaneous development of industry and agriculture. He said that 30 percent of Israel’s industries had been established since the creation of the state. Arieh Shenkar, president of the Manufacturers’ Association, and Dr. A. Barth, director of the Bank Leumi L’Israel, said that bank loans had been extended to nearly 3,000 industrial enterprises for development purposes.
The party also visited the newly constructed Ramat Aviv cottage apartment hotel development outside Tel Aviv, built to provide tourist accommodation, a plant making cases for wrist watches and clocks to be fitted with Swiss movements, textile mills and a chocolate factory.
NEW INDUSTRIAL CENTER NEAR NATHANYA
Plans for a new industrial center south of Nathanya, construction of which has already begun, were described to the group by Mayor Oved Ben-Ami of Nathanya. He said Nathanya’s existing industrial center includes 40 plants now in operation or under construction, representing an investment of $8,000,000. The new center, he said, will be twice as large. The visitors witnessed the cornerstone laying for the new Diamond Course being erected by a group of former Antwerp diamond dealers who are also establishing an “Antwerp” residential quarter here. Mr. Ben Ami said Nathanya’s industrial development was reflected in the town’s population which had tripled in the past two years.
The party visited diamond cutting plants, the Phillips electric bulb factory, a new plant assembling carburetors under Italian patents, two wool processing plants; a scrap iron recovery plant that will save the country $1,000,000 annually by manufacturing pipe fittings, and a champagne distillery.
Herman Hollander, Director General of the Ministry of Trade, said that investors came to Nathanya from many countries, including Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Tripolitania and France and all had found their place in industry here.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
