Premier Shimon Peres will meet with President Reagan in Washington on October 8, it was announced here today. The arrangements were concluded this morning at a meeting of Peres with U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis. Peres will also confer in Washington with Secretary of State George Shultz and their talks are expected to focus on economic matters.
Peres’ two-day working visit to Washington, less than a month from now, establishes the time frome in which the new Labor-Likud unity government must set in motion its economic austerity program.
Peres is expected to seek additional large economic aid from the U.S., beyond the $2.5 billion the Reagan Administration has allocated in outright grants for fiscal 1985. The unity government’s economic program therefore must be seen as viable in the U.S. by the time Peres meets with the President and Secretary of State.
Lewis told reporters today that while Presidents compaigning for reelection have little time to see visiting foreign dignitaries, Israel’s “special relationship” with the U.S. made a difference in this case. He said there was “great receptivity” in Washington to the new Premier and the unity government.
Peres will be preceded to Washington by Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai who will hold talks with top Administration officials later this month. Modai and his Treasury team met this evening with a delegation of the Manufacturers Association to enlist the support of Israeli industrialists for a government-labor-management “package deal” to freeze wages and prices.
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