Haaretz: Egypt, Israel discuss establishing special industrial zones

The Israeli daily Haaretz said yesterday that the Egyptian two ministers of intelligence and foreign affairs, lt. gen. Omar Suleiman and Ahmad Abu al-Gheit, will discuss during their visit to Israel on November 11 a project to establish "special industrial zones" in Egypt.

According to the plan, factories will be established in Egypt at a joint Israeli-Egyptian initiative in order to export the products to the USA without taxes. Egypt set a precondition to establish seven similar industrial zones to finalize the agreement, but the US persisted that it will accept one or two zones as maximum.

Haaretz explained that the Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom raised this matter with the US and proposed the project to start gradually with two zones and a schedule to be set to establish other areas later. Haaretz added that the Egyptians are greatly concerned with this project and that lt. gen. Omar Suleiman placed this issue at the heart of his recent discussions in Washington.