A five-year long-term agreement was signed between the state of Israel and the KKL-JNF concerning national projects like areas of settlement, peripheral development, and environmental projects.
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On Sunday, Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and Chairwoman of the KKL-JNF Board of Directors Yifat Ovadia-Lusky signed the agreement at the Ministry of Finance headquarters. The ministry's CEO Shlomi Heizler, the head of the Budget Division, Yogev Gerdos, the ministry's ombudsman, Assi Messing, and Matan Yigal, the real estate coordinator, with KKL-JNF Co-Chairman Yitzhak Vaknin, CEO of KKL-JNF Amnon Ben Ami, legal advisor, Shimi Brown, and head of the company's finance division, Yuval Yeini, took part in the signing ceremony.
Starting from January 2023 until the end of December 2027, the KKL-JNF will spend NIS 6 billion, of which KKL-JNF will be entitled to claim up to NIS 1.2 billion in tax deductions. In the years 2023-24, KKL-JNF participation is expected to cost about NIS 2 billion per year. The money will be used for settlement development, land preparation, immigration absorption, reducing disparities in the periphery, cultivation of forests and parks, paving roads, and environmental projects.
Smotrich welcomed the agreement and said: "This achievement is credited to the citizens of Israel. This is a historic, important, and excellent agreement and I congratulate it. KKL-JNF is part of the national institutions that for years have been an integral part of the building of the country and its development. I thank the chairwoman and board of directors of the KKL-JNF for approving the agreement that will lead to the promotion of projects of national importance in the settlements, the periphery, and the surrounding area, and I am sure that it will greatly help the citizens of Israel."
Ovadia-Lusky also congratulated the agreement and said: "I am happy that within the framework of this agreement, KKL-JNF will continue to be a partner in the building and development of the State of Israel." The entire budget will be used for national projects that are at the core of KKL-JNF's activities and will continue to strengthen the country as we have done since the beginning of Zionism, as we are doing now, and as we will always continue to do."
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