(Communicated by the President’s Spokesperson)

 

The Fourth Israel Presidential Conference 'Facing Tomorrow' will be held from June 19-21, 2012. The first presidential conference took place in May 2008, one week after Israel celebrated its 60th year of independence, and on the basis of its success became an annual event. The conference is centered around discussions, panels and plenary sessions aimed at answering one question: how can we foster a better tomorrow for the international community, Israel and the Jewish world.

 

Ahead of the 4th Israeli Presidential Conference , "Facing Tomorrow", set to begin on Tuesday 19th June 2012, conference organizers announced the launch of a new app on the Conference Facebook page, allowing people from around the world to have a personal, interactive conversation with President Shimon Peres.

 

The conversation with President Peres was created by Interlude, a leading developer of social media video technologies. Web users can speak with the President about almost every topic, including love, politics, the future, hobbies, statesmanship and more.

 

With this new app, topics that will be discussed by the President at the Conference are now open to people around the world, and not just those at the Conference. The platform will be hosted on the conference's Facebook page. Additionally, people who "Friend" the Conference page will be able to watch live broadcasts of conference panels, and react to the ideas presented in real time.

 

"We are speaking about an exceptional opportunity for citizens around the world to get to know Peres the man – memories of his beloved wife Sonia Z"L, the crises he's endured in politics, his love of sport, the books he reads, the poems he's written, his hope for a better tomorrow, and his vision for peace," said Israel Maimon, Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Israeli Presidential Conference. "President Peres is the first global leader to take part in a project of this magnitude, providing him with the capacity to present his vision for a better tomorrow to a new, younger audience via a very innovative medium."

 

"President Peres is a leader who looks to the future. His willingness to work with us on this new project comes from his understanding that young people are looking for personal experiences in the interactive world," said Yoni Bloch, founder and CEO of Interlude. "Thanks to this new technology, any individual can have a personal conversation with the President in a way that was previously unimaginable. The President is opening a channel to global citizenry to get to know him personally, in a way he has not been seen at any event or in any interview. The President speaks about his disappointments, his hopes, the opportunities for a better tomorrow and the dangers we face in the present."