Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Allon spent most of the day in conference with West German leaders. The talks centered on economic cooperation between Israel and West Germany and although few details were disclosed, Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher said on a radio interview that Israel could count on DM 140 million from West Germany this year for capital development. That sum has been granted regularly over the past few years for housing, telecommunications and other civilian projects.
Allon, on the second day of his three-day official visit to West Germany, met with Finance Minister Hans Apel and the Minister for Economic Cooperation Egon Bahr, He had private talks with Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, President Walter Scheel and Franz Josef Strauss, leader of the Christian Socialist Union, the Bavarian wing of the Christian Democratic Party.
No talks were hold on the issue of reparations but both the Israeli Minister and his hosts appeared satisfied with the progress of their discussions so far. Genscher said today that West Germany’s “balanced” policy in the Middle East was understood and accepted by Israel, He said that policy permitted his country to better serve the cause of a Just and lasting peace in the Middle East than a partisan policy.
Genscher said Bonn’s commitment to balance was in the interests of all parties concerned and would have been followed even if there were no energy crisis, It is not “opportunistic” the German Foreign Minister stressed. He expressed the view that current peace efforts have a chance to succeed and that he believed Israel was ready to negotiate and make some moves toward a solution. The Middle East was the main subject of Allon’s two hours of talks with Schmidt. They also discussed other international Issues including trade and oil.
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