(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will, at the upcoming 2014 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, address the plenum under the heading 'Israel – Innovation Nation' and will focus on the technological leadership of the Israeli high-tech industry with an emphasis on the cyber industry.
PM Netanyahu said, on the eve of his departure: "Israel
is an exception on the Western economic scene. We have succeeded in
dealing with the global economic crisis better than almost all Western
countries. But we cannot rest on our laurels. We need to develop new
markets and new partners and this is my goal in going to Davos. My
intention is to talk with leading global high-tech companies, in the
cyber and other fields, in order to tell them to come to Israel, invest
in Israel and create jobs in Israel. This will be good for them and good
for us as well."In addition to his speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu will attend and address sessions on the IT and cyber industries. The IT session is due to be attended by dozens of senior industrialists in the field including Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers. The cyber session is to be attended by dozens of corporate managers and senior government officials from countries that are active in the field.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Yahoo President and CEO Marissa Mayer and with Google Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora. In both meetings, the Prime Minister will emphasize Israeli innovation and the technological leadership of the Israeli high-tech industry in order to expand economic cooperation with the two companies.
In the invitation sent to the Prime Minister, it was noted that Israel is a key to positive developments in the regional and global economies and that the Forum will be a significant opportunity to present the government's economic policy after one year in office.
Ahead of his departure for Davos, Prime Minister Netanyahu met with the heads of Waze and held a meeting with Israeli economic leaders.
* * *
(Communicated by the Office of the President)
President Shimon Peres will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, together with world leaders, heads of global companies and opinion-makers from around the world. During his visit President Peres will conduct an intensive round of meetings including with the President of Azerbaijan, the President of CISCO, the Chairperson of Yandex, the President of Philips, the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Chairperson of Huawei, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, the Chairperson of JP Morgan, the President of Harvard, Chairperson of Bloomberg, CEO and Chairperson of Salesforce, heads of start-ups and more.
On Thursday morning (January 23), President Peres will host a press conference and answer questions from the international and Israeli press during which he will address the state of the peace talks, the changes in the Middle East and the speech by the President of Iran at the WEF scheduled for that morning.
On Friday morning (January 24), a special plenary will be held hosted by the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, Mr. Klaus Schwab. The plenary will pay tribute to President Peres and he will be presented with the "Spirit of Davos" award for his contribution to the success of the World Economic Forum over the past two decades. During the plenary President Peres will deliver a foreign policy speech in which he will address the state of the peace process, the situation with Syria, the Iranian nuclear program and the economic and diplomatic challenges facing Israel and the Middle East.