Israeli Trade Minister Micha Harish is urging the European Union to open up government telecommunications contracts to bids by Israeli firms as a way of narrowing Israel’s trade deficit with the Union: opinion among member states was divided on this request; some countries, which he did not name, expected Israel to make new trade concessions in return; Foreign Minister Shimon Peres is due to attend the European Union-Israel Co-operation Council due on June 13 and this should help to bring negotiations for the new agreement which will replace a 1975 Israel-European Union accord back into the limelight; the negotiations should be completed by the end of the year; Harish said Israel had a $6,000m deficit with the Union last year and that Europe’s recession was the main factor holding back growth.
