William E. Simon, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, arrived in Israel tonight from Egypt for talks on Israel’s economy and future U.S. economic aid to Israel, as well as economic cooperation between the U.S. and Israel. Simon’s visit to Israel, which is part of a tour of Middle East countries, is a follow-up to the prospects for large scale U.S. economic assistance to Israel indicated in the joint communique issued during President Nixon’s visit to Israel in June.
The communique made brief references to cooperation in the fields of trade, tourism, investment, industrial research, atomic energy, water desalination and similar topics, as well as economic aid. The talks with Simon are expected to go into detail on the communique topics. Simon will meet with Premier Yitzhak Rabin and Finance Minister Yehoshua Rabinowitz. A dinner in Simon’s honor will be given tomorrow by Foreign Minister Yigal Allon. Simon will leave Thursday for Saudi Arabia.
Simon’s three days of talks in Egypt reportedly concentrated on guarantees for American investments in Egypt and liberalization of Egypt’s economic system. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt said, after a conference with Simon, that the latter’s trip was “a real contribution to peace.”
Simon said he had assured Sadat that he would have an answer soon on how much grain Egypt could receive from the U.S. under the Food for Peace program but he added that Egypt would not get all the wheat it wants from the U.S. alone.
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