“Israel is moving towards a balanced economy,” Ernest A. Maes, State Department official, reported today at a meeting of the Hadassah held at the Henry Hudson Hotel here. However, he added that normal trade relations between the Jewish State and neighboring Arab countries would accelerate the economic development of the entire Middle East and lessen the economic hardships of both Arabs and Jews. “There is a crying need for peace between Israel and the Arab states to assure the sound economic development of the area,” he said.
Mr. Maes, who returned from Israel where he participated in the organization of the new joint fund of $3,600,000, contributed equally by the governments of the United States and Israel for technical advances in industry and agriculture in that country, is Program Planning Chief of the Near East and African Development Service of the Technical Cooperation Administration, which charts the United States Point 4 Program of aid to underdeveloped areas.
He said the new joint fund of $3,600,000 would enable Israel to carry out important agricultural experiments and strengthen its live-stock industry. He reported that the Israel Government was now giving “greater emphasis” to the development of its agriculture, which, he said, still attracts “too small a percentage of the people.”
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