Pinchas Sapir
Minister of Trade and Industry
State of Israel
Mr. Secretary,
Your proposal for a new port at Ashdod is sound. We agree with your assessment. Haifa is overburdened, and Eilat is poorly positioned to support our industrial base or long-term export needs. A port at Ashdod would reduce our dependency on Haifa and give us a direct outlet to the Mediterranean without relying on unstable choke points like the Suez Canal. It’s a strategic and economic necessity.
On industrial matters, we request three things from the United States:
Capital Equipment. Our current machinery base is obsolete. If we’re to industrialize at scale, we’ll need access to American factory and mining equipment. This includes machine tools, cement mixers, textile lines, electronics assembly, and heavy construction vehicles. Export credits or access to surplus stocks would speed this up considerably. We would heavily prefer licensing to produce this equipment domestically in the future, along with some American assistance in establishing the needed means to do so.
Resource Development. We have phosphates, potash, copper, and other base materials, but we lack processing capacity. American help building smelters, fertilizer plants, and related infrastructure would let us extract more value before exporting resources across the Mediterranean.
Joint Ventures. We are open to American firms setting up operations in Israel. Chemicals, metals, energy, and light manufacturing industries are our priorities. We will offer tax holidays, land access, and light subsidies. We want long-term industrial roots planted here, not just imports from Western Europe and North America.
As for agriculture:
We’re expanding into the Negev and other marginal areas. What we need are better drip irrigation systems, yield-optimized seed stock, and low-cost agricultural processing machinery that isn’t twenty years old. We want these areas to feed themselves and supply our food exports, without relying on constant subsidies from the interior.
Financially, what we want is clarity and access to the following:
Long-term loans for development, technology, and infrastructure.
A stand-alone framework for ongoing economic cooperation between the United States and Israel, rather than folding aid or cooperation under pre-existing United States programs for foreigners. We seek to be partners in the long-term.
A long-term arrangement that is agreeable to both sides of the American political system, so we’re not forced to request ad hoc assistance year after year.
I would welcome your thoughts on these ideas brought forward by my Ministry.
