50 Experts Assigned by U.N. to Israel to Aid Country’s Development

A total of 50 experts were assigned to Israel last year by the United Nations Technical Assistance Program, it was revealed today in a report issued here. The report was prepared for the UN Economic and Social Council.

The Technical Assistance Program last year gave 45 fellowships to Israeli experts for study abroad. At the same time, it hired nine Israeli experts to serve in other countries, while three foreign experts were sent by the UN to study in Israel.

One of the Program’s major tasks, according to the report, was careful and critical evaluation of the efficiency applied to major projects. In that respect, the report declared, Israel ranked high. “In Israel,” the report stated, “all technical assistance requests submitted by Ministries or institutions had to be accompanied by a careful assessment of results already achieved, and these were discussed at high-level government meetings.”

Israel also evaluated carefully the performance of Israelis who had been abroad on UN Technical Assistance Program fellowships, the report added. It pointed out here that Israel is one of the relatively few countries where the Prime Minister’s office takes direct responsibility for technical assistance.

Israel also benefited from monetary expenditures by the United Nations Technical Assistance Program, according to the report. Out of total expenditures of $31,500,000. the Program allocated $314,000 to Israel in 1957. Israel pledged in money a total of $50,000 for 1957, and still owed $30,556 of that sum as of the date the year’s figures were compiled, on March 31, 1958.