Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser Jerusalem, 9 June 1998 PM Netanyahu meets with Senior U.S. Hi-Tech Executives   Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today (Tuesday), 9.6.98, with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the Near East and Africa Judith Barnett and a delegation of senior officials from major high technology and telecommunications companies. The prime minister said: "We are witnessing tremendous interest and major deals being made between Israelis and Americans, primarily in hi-tech, telecommunications and the Internet. We are promoting a partnership of values and strategic partnership; we have much to offer each other." "The government's economic outlook is not foreign to you -- interference in the private sector should be minimized as much as possible. We believe in reducing the government's monetary outlays, in order to cut the deficit, and in large-scale privatization. And that is what we are doing, including wide-scale deregulation. This week, for example, we decided on a plan to quadruple the number of university graduates in hi-tech by 2003, since the small number of students in this sphere is the only obstacle to growth in Israel's hi-tech industry. We will increase the supply and do everything we can to keep these good minds in Israel." Assistant Secretary Barnett thanked Prime Minister Netanyahu for the meeting and said: "This is our second visit here and this time our challenge is to triple the amount of business compared with the previous visit, during which there were deals worth $545 million. We very much appreciate the reforms and the privatization that the government is undertaking, reforms which serve as a model for many countries."