International Broadcasting: Construction of U.S. Radio Relay Station in Israel.

Negotiations between the governments of the United States and Israel to establish a U.S. shortwave radio relay station in Israel began in March 1985. Engineering studies by the Board for International Broadcasting BIB and the Voice of America VOA had shown that a new relay station located in the Middle East would deliver a reliable signal into the USSRs Central Asian republics. Eastern Europe, the sub-Sahara region, and Southwest Asia. Negotiations were concluded in the spring of 1987, and an agreement was signed on June 18, 1987, providing for joint use of the station by BIBs grantee Radio Free EuropeRadio Liberty RFERL and the U.S. Information Agencys USA VOA. The terms of the agreement call for the facility to be designed by a U.S. or Israeli company and built by an Israeli contractor using U.S. manufactured transmitters and antennas. The agreement runs for 25 years from the date of the first operational broadcast and is renewable, by mutual consent. Construction of the station is scheduled for completion in 1993.