The Embassy of Israel announced today that informational media guaranty contracts for Israel totalling more that $1,000,000 have been concluded since the start of the program some three months ago.
Extension of informational media guaranties to the countries of the Near East was authorized by Congress in the Mutual Security Act of 1952. A bilateral program was signed between Israel and the United States last June 8. The guaranty contracts are between American book, periodical, and magazine publishers and the American Government, subject to approval of the Israel Government. The American Government guarantees convertibility into dollars of publishers’ earnings in Israel and these earnings in local currency are in turn deposited to the account of the United States Government in Israel.
The great number of guaranty contract applications received during the first three months indicates the wide interest by Israelis in publications which reflect the scientific, cultural, technical and educational developments in the United States.
The amount of $1,075,000 for Israel during three months compares with a total of $6,500,000 for American books and magazines exported under this scheme to all European countries combined between April 1948 and June 30, 1952, according to M.S.A. statistics. Although most of the large American publishers are already included, the total for Israel is expected to rise still further during the current year and new applications are still being received. Last year, imports of all U.S. publications by Israel amounted to only $200,000 due to the foreign currency shortage.
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