Israeli officials refused to confirm or deny today a report in Maariv that Hungary was secretly negotiating economic relations with Israel. Hungary has no diplomatic relations with Israel and economic relations diminished after the 1967 Six-Day War.
According to Maariv, a Hungarian delegation visited Israel recently for secret discussions on economic and financial matters. The delegation reportedly met with Minister of Commerce and Industry Gideon Patt, Moshe Mandelbaum, Governor of the Bank of Israel, and with several other high level officials, Maariv said.
Israel’s exports to Hungary amounted to $4.5 million last year and its imports from that country were valued at about $8.1 million. Israel’s total trade with the Eastern European Communist bloc countries accounts for less than one percent of its trade balance, compared to as much as five percent before the 1967 war.
Israel’s major trading partner in Eastern Europe is Rumania, the only Warsaw Pact member with which Jerusalem has formal diplomatic relations.
Exports to Rumania last year totalled about $26 million and imports from that country amounted to $50 million.
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