Israel and Britain began a week of talks here today on ways of increasing cooperation between industrial companies in both countries. The talks are being held under the auspices of the Anglo-Israel Joint Economic Commission, an inter-governmental panel which meets annually.
Moshe Semadar, head of the Israeli delegation, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Israel wanted the creation of a special framework to foster joint research and development in industry, agriculture and in medical equipment. Areas of special interest to Israel, he said, were robotics, engineering, telemetry and computer hardware and software.
His proposal is understood to have been welcomed in principle by Kenneth Baker, Britain’s Technology Minister, but it remains to be seen whether the British government would help to finance the joint program.
The talks coincide with growing trade between the two countries. Britain is now Israel’s second most valuable export market after the U.S. and her third biggest supplier after the U.S. and West Germany. Britain’s exports to Israel in the first 10 months of this year were 62 percent higher than in the same period last year.
THE ISSUE OF SUPPLYING OIL TO ISRAEL
The Israeli team, however, is expected to complain at Britain’s long-standing refusal to supply North Sea oil. The British government’s policy was laid down four years ago in the midst of an international oil shortage.
Even though Britain now has plenty of oil to spare, it still refuses to sell any to Israel, for what British officials privately adm it are political reasons.
The Israelis for their part have no difficulty in meeting their oil requirements. An Israeli official told the JTA last night that Israel had recently been approached” two or three times a week” with offers of oil from Arab countries via spot market dealers.
But Israel would prefer to buy oil from Britain on the basis of a long-term supply contract and so reduce the amount of oil it currently purchases on the volatile spot market. (This currently accounts for 35 percent of Israel’s imports — the remaining oil coming from Mexico and Egypt.)
HOPING FOR REVISION OF EEC TRADE ACCORD
The Israeli delegates are hoping for a more sympathetic response to their request for a revision of the 1975 Israeli trade agreement with the European Economic Community (EEC) of which Britain is a leading member.
Last year, Israel had a deficit of $1.3 billion in her trade with the EEC-importing $3 billion worth of goods while selling the community only $1.7 billion.
Israel wants the community to grant her fresh concessions on the tariffs for exports of fresh and processed agricultural produce, as well as an extension of the timetable for dropping Israel’s own tariffs on imports from the EEC.
In order to secure such concessions, Israel first has to gain the EEC’s agreement to revise the joint trade treaty and in this week’s talks it is seeking British support for such a move.
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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.
