The Atlantic Club of Bulgaria (ACB) and the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) have sent a delegation to Israel to strengthen the relations between Europe, Palestine, Israel and Turkey including meetings with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Ambassador. Uri Savir (President of the Peres Center for Peace).
The ACB/ICD delegation included the following ICD members:
- Dr. Emil Constantinescu (ICD Advisory Board Member; President of the ICD Academy for Cultural Diplomacy; Former President of Romania)
- The Hon. Yasar Yakis (ICD Advisory Board Member; President of the ICD Young Leaders Forums; Former Foreign Minister of Turkey)
- Dr. Solomon Passy (ICD Advisory Board Member; President of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria; Former Foreign Minister of Bulgaria)
- Mark C. Donfried (Executive Director and Founder of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy)
Host Organization & Delegation Meetings
The ACB/ICD delegation was invited to Israel by the world-renowned organization: “The Peres Center for Peace”.
During the trip the delegation met with important stakeholders in the field of the Israeli-Palestinian relations as well as the Israeli-Turkish relations. The first set of meetings was with the President & Founder of “The Peres Center for Peace” Amb. Uri Savir, the CEO of the Peres Center for Peace Mr. Ido Sharir, as well as the top management of the Peres Center for Peace (ICD’s main partner in Israel). In these meetings the foundation was laid for the development of future cooperation between the Peres Center for Peace, the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria and the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy.
In addition, the ACB/ICD Delegation met with the leaders of the Yala Young Leaders Movement (founded by the Peres Center for Peace), which is a peace movement of youth from the Middle East region dedicated to promoting dialog and engagement as means to securing a safe, productive, and peaceful region. The ACB/ICD Delegation held a workshop and seminar with a group of Palestinian and Israeli young leaders from the Yala Academy. In the context of this meeting the delegation was able to hear perspectives from younger generation in Israel and Palestine on the peace process as well as the primary challenges and opportunities that they are currently facing.
On July 5th, the ACB/ICD Delegation had the privilege of meeting with Minister Avigdor Liberman (Foreign Minister of Israel) in the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. In addition to reviewing the significant opportunity for cultural diplomacy engagement in the Middle East region, the meeting was intended as a step towards reconciliation in the Turkish-Israeli relationship as well as to strengthen the EU-Israeli-Palestinian dialog and cooperation.
ICD Award for President Shimon Peres
On July 4th the delegation members met with the President of the State of Israel, Mr. Shimon Peres. On this occasion, the ACB/ICD Delegation honored President Shimon Peres with a special award of “Recognition of Distinguished Contribution to World Peace.” The meeting served as an important basis to review the key challenges and opportunities facing both the Israeli-Palestinian relations as well as the Israeli-Turkish relations. In addition, this meeting provided the ACB/ICD Delegation with the opportunity to learn from and to be inspired by the perspectives and aspirations of President Peres for a broader plan for peace for the Middle Eastern region.
Future Endeavors
In the course of these meetings it became clear that the potential was very high for further cultural diplomacy engagement in the region. Therefore, the ACB and the ICD are planning to launch a number of new cultural diplomacy initiatives designed to strengthen EU-Israeli-Palestinian relations, and EU-Israeli-Turkish relations.
The ACB and ICD will publish official announcements about these programs shortly.