Three-day Israel Bond Parley Opens; Role of American Aid Stressed

American aid to Israel’s economic growth during the past year enabled Israel to reach a new peak of economic development in 1961, Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, vice-president of the Israel Bond Organization, reported today.

Addressing the opening session of the three-day 1962 Planning Conference of the Board of Governors of the Israel bond drive, Dr. Schwartz said Israel would achieve complete economic independence before the end of the present decade. More than 350 Jewish leaders from the United States and Canada are attending the conference. Dr. Schwartz reported that a total of $533,497,200 had been provided through the Israel bond drive between its inception in 1951 and the end of 1961 for the expansion of industry and agriculture and other phases of Israel’s economic growth.

“The economic development which Israel bonds finance has enabled the country to overcome the problem of unemployment, which was so serious a matter a few years ago. Today there is no unemployment in the country among the entire employable population. In fact, Israel faces a shortage of various types of skilled labor, Dr. Schwartz reported.

“Israel bonds have not only popularized investment in Israel, ” he pointed out. “They have provided the climate and the foundation capital which have been responsible for attracting a rising number of private investments. Many privately financed enterprises in Israel could not have been initiated without Government loans from the Development Budget. Israel bond money, which forms a substantial part of the Development Budget, is consequently very directly involved in the setting up of new industrial projects regardless of whether the auspices are private or public.”