Finance Minister Moshe Nissim of Israel told 400 Jewish leaders from the United States and Canada that when the Israel unity government’s rotation process takes place next month, and Premier Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir exchange positions, “Israel’s economic and foreign policies will remain unchanged.”
Addressing a gala dinner at the 1986 National Leadership Conference of State of Israel Bonds at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Sunday, Nissim said Israel will continue to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state in Judaea and Samaria and repudiate negotiations with the PLO, which he termed “the most vicious terrorist organization in the world today.”
Referring to the talks last week in Alexandria between Peres and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Finance Minister stated: “The battle against terrorism must not distract us from our search for peace, and a true and honorable peace can only come from direct negotiations.”
ECONOMIC SITUATION ASSESSED
Turning to Israel’s economic situation, Nissim pointed out that it was a unity government which introduced bold austerity programs that have helped to reduce inflation and stabilize the country’s economy.
He reported that the Finance Ministry has started to introduce additional reforms, while continuing the general policy of restraint, to further reduce inflation to Western levels, to increase economic growth and to improve the country’s balance of payments.
“The required reforms are in taxation policy, the capital market, the general economic structure and the extent of public involvement in the marketplace,” Nissim asserted. “These reforms, together with continued budgetary restraint, will encourage investment, strengthen production, increase our exports and raise our level of productivity.”
Although the reforms involve enormous difficulties, Nissim said, “We are determined to carry them out. Without such basic reforms, we will not be able to achieve economic health and independence.”
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