Israel Signs Pact to Export Produce to Soviet Union

TEL AVIV —  Israel will begin exporting food to the Soviet Union, Agriculture Minister Avraham Katz-Oz announced on Sunday after making the first ministerial visit to Moscow since the Soviet Union cut ties with the Jewish state in 1967.

He said that Israel’s state marketing board has signed contracts to supply fruit and vegetables worth $30 million to the Moscow Soviet (municipality) over the next six months.

The deal, concluded during a weeklong visit, is a further sign of the Kremlin’s warming relations with Israel, despite a statement by Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev last week ruling out for now a resumption of full diplomatic relations.

Katz-Oz said at an airport news conference that the Moscow deal was only an opening toward much larger Israeli agricultural exports to the Soviet Union, which would allow Israeli farmers to increase acreage and output.

“I have put my foot into the door, which is now open,” he said, adding that the produce would be paid for in dollars.

Soviet aircraft, expected to begin direct flights between Tel Aviv and Moscow later this month, will transport the produce--tomatoes, potatoes, onions, citrus fruits, bananas, peaches, apples and strawberries.