While public attention was focussed on the visiting 22-man French Parliamentary delegation now touring Israel, members of another French delegation, who arrived without fanfare, were reported today as engaged in discussions with top Israeli officials on the finalization of far-reaching development projects.
The projects reported under consideration in talks with economic experts of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and other ministries included French-aided programs to decrease substantially Israel’s overland fuel transportation costs and to improve harbor facilities, particularly on the southern Mediterranean coast.
It was recalled that during Finance Minister Levi Eshkol’s visit to Paris last month, France increased a $30,000,000 credit to Israel to $45,000, 000, the additional credits being for the special development projects currently under discussion in Israel.
Members of the Parliamentary delegation meanwhile learned today at first hand about life in Israeli settlements in the Huleh area in the shadow of Syrian gun positions. The delegation visited the Gonan settlement, scene of repeated acts of Syrian aggression. Members also saw the results of reclamation efforts in the Huleh and Arfa areas. The delegation also visited Nazareth and a Druze village in northern Galilee.
A third French delegation was scheduled to arrive in Israel today for a ten-day visit to study Israeli farming development. A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the delegation would include two Moslem members and that it was headed by Modeiba Keite, deputy minister of French overseas territories.
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