Israel has neglected to expand its economic relations with South American countries, having a overlooked the possibility of trade that could run into several million dollars a year, according to Dr. Benjamin Avniel, chairman of the economic committee of the Israeli parliament. Dr. Avniel visited the United Nations today during a three-day stop-over in New York en route to Israel, after concluding an eight-week tour of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
Dr. Avniel reported that he had met with leading cabinet members in the three South American countries, and found among all of them “a keen desire” to increase trade with Israel. “We sell almost nothing to Uruguay,” he stated, “while our trade Argentina could be increased vastly. We could receive from South America a number of items that are of vital interest to our economy, such as meat, leather, wool and other raw materials of which we are short. In return we could sell chemical products, pharmaceuticals, phosphates, potassium, alkoloids, and certain consumer goods.”
Dr. Avniel cited pencils as an example of an exportable product which Israel could sell in quantity to South America. He said he found that Israel could well sell $500,000 worth of pencils in the South American market, receiving highly-valued, scarce imports in exchange.
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