Holland will contribute $2.5 million during 1975 towards joint Dutch-Israeli cooperation aid projects in Third World countries. The sum represents a four-fold increase over Holland’s contribution last year and Israeli officials are hopeful that more money will be available from Holland if the projects already initiated prove successful.
The new $2.5 million agreement was signed this morning at the King David Hotel by Jan Pronk, Dutch Minister for overseas cooperation, and Moshe Allon, assistant director general of the Foreign Ministry. Pronk left today after a four-day visit. The countries where Dutch-financed Israeli experts will operate under this agreement include Peru, Colombia, Thailand and Nepal.
Pronk told newsmen the project would mainly be in the fields of agronomies and irrigation at which, he said, Israel had shown its high technical standards. Part of the Dutch funding will also provide for scholarships for Third World graduates to study at Israeli schools and institutes, and for Israeli research work in agronomies and related fields.
Pronk, a 36-year-old Socialist minister, will shortly have to decide whether to channel Dutch, government funds into the making of a movie on the Palestinians. He told newsmen here yesterday that his final decision would certainly take into account the fact that the vast majority of Dutch parliamentarians oppose the project. On the other hand, a national advisory council had recommended that he set aside the initial 3000 Guilders required for the script, and he would take account of that positive recommendation, too, in weighing his decision.
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