JERUSALEM, March 12 (UPI) -- The Japanese government is this week scheduled to host senior Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian officials to discuss joint economic projects.
An aide to Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who will represent his country at the talks, said Japan intends to fund an agro-industrial zone in the Jericho area that would process agricultural products. The plans talk of producing juices, making sour pickles and pressing olives. The goods should be exported through Jordan, the aide said.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat and the head of the Jordanian king's bureau, Bassem Awadallah, were invited to attend the meeting in Japan.
Peres has been talking for years about joint economic ventures that would strengthen peace. The Israeli Cabinet Sunday "instructed" him to work towards "advancing regional economic development projects" in cooperation with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.
The projects are expected in the Gulf of Eilat, the Aravah -- or Wadi Araba where the Israeli-Jordanian border runs in the Negev -- and in the Jordan Valley "in order to increase regional stability by means of economic development."
The idea is to have a 100-mile long water-carrier from the Gulf of Eilat (also known as the Gulf of Aqaba) to the Dead Sea. It should prevent the Dead Sea from drying up and also promote agriculture, electricity production, and tourism projects along the way.
The ideas call also for a joint Israeli-Jordanian airport in the Aqaba area, an Israeli-Palestinian industrial project and joining the Israeli and Jordanian rail networks in the Beit She'an-Irbid areas.
