Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, preparing to leave for the United States for an official visit with President Johnson to begin next Monday, reported on the details of his American stay to the Cabinet here today.
In addition to meeting with the President, Mr. Eshkol will also confer in Washington with Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara. He will also meet other prominent Americans, including leaders of the Republican Party. Among the latter will be Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York. Walworth H. Barbour, United States Ambassador to Israel, left for Washington today to help prepare official American Administration arrangements for the Eshkol visit.
During today’s meeting, the Cabinet also received from Foreign Minister Golda Meir a report about the visit paid to Egypt by Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev. She submitted to the Cabinet copies of Mr. Khrushchev’s addresses in Egypt. While the Cabinet discussed preliminarily the implications of the latest Soviet-Egyptian relations, as reflected through the public statements and the joint communique issued in Cairo by Mr. Khrushchev and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Mrs. Meir told her fellow Ministers that the real significance of the Khrushchev visit to Egypt is still to be fully assessed.
The Government announced that, during Mr. Eshkol’s absence, Deputy Premier Abba Eban will be Acting Prime Minister. Since Mr. Eshkol is also Minister of Defense, that post will be assumed temporarily during his absence by Pinhas Sapir, Minister of Finance and Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Prime Minister Eshkol is due to meet President DeGaulle in Paris about a week after returning from his forthcoming United States visit. The Prime Minister’s office here confirmed today that a meeting between the two leaders has been scheduled for early July.
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