Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to discuss the Sheshinski committee report at his office on Tuesday. Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz, Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau, National Economic Council chairman Eugene Kandel, and Prof. Eytan Sheshinski will attend.
Sheshinski will present the committee's recommendations, which Steinitz supports and Landau opposes.
The meeting was originally scheduled for last week, but Netanyahu postponed it.
The Ministry of Finance believes that Netanyahu will support Sheshinski's recommendations and back Steinitz. When the meeting is over, Netanyahu will decide which recommendations to send to the cabinet. The coalition's position will be derived from Netanyahu's decision.
However, at the start of today's cabinet meeting, Netanyahu unexpectedly announced that he will formulate a compromise on the support Sheshinski committee's recommendations. "I will meet the committee members today and hear their comments," he said. "Later this week, I will meet the ministers of national infrastructures and environmental protection, the governor of the Bank of Israel, and Tamar investors. I will hear them and decide on a recommendation that I will submit to the cabinet for a decision."
Netanyahu said that he will recommend setting up a national fund for the gas revenues, which will be invested in areas such as education and defense. This is in line with the recommendation of Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer who urged adopting the Norwegian model.
Netanyahu said, "I will make a decision and will submit my recommendation to the cabinet within a short time, at one of our upcoming meetings, for their approval. Thus Israel will make a critical decision regarding a natural resource that is important for our future. I will recommend that the cabinet establish a national fund to utilize the fruits of our gas reserves for several goals, with security and education foremost among them."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 9, 2011
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