Quds (JERUSALEM), September 02, SPA -- Israeli and Palestinian Cabinet ministers shared ideas on Wednesday for shoring up the fledgling Palestinian economic recovery, in the first high-level talks between the sides since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in March. The meeting between Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom and Palestinian Economics Minister Bassem Khoury was the latest sign of a thaw in frosty relations. Last week, both sides said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would soon hold his first meeting with Netanyahu, despite Israel's refusal to freeze settlement construction. The meeting Wednesday at a Jerusalem hotel was the first Cabinet-level encounter between the Netanyahu and Abbas governments. The agenda included easing restrictions on the entry of Palestinian businesspeople and VIPs to Israel; boosting Israeli meat exports to the West Bank and dairy imports from the West Bank to Israel; and allowing more Palestinians to seek medical care in Israel. Proposed joint industrial parks _ were also to come up in the talks.
