A group of West German experts will come to Israel shortly to study plans for building a railway line from Beersheba, to Eilat in a joint West German-Israel vonture, a member of the West German Parliament disclosed at a press conference here today.
Erich Blumenfeld, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, the lower House of the Parliament, and personal emissary of Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, cited the project in support of his belief that such joint efforts would be better than West German loans or grants in building relations between the two countries. He suggested that such ventures should constitute the principal form of West German aid to Israel.
“Joint projects could double or even quadruple the amount which Israel could expect to receive in grants, ” he said. He declined to disclose the figure he had in mind, but declared that Israel’s economy might benefit by 500, 000, 000 marks ($1,666, 000) a year in income. He added he would present recommendations, based on his visit to Israel, to Chancellor Erhard.
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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.
