The President of the State of Israel, President Shimon Peres, will depart tomorrow, Tuesday 5th March for a visit to the European Union (Brussels, Paris and Strasbourg) and will conduct a series of diplomatic, economic and security meetings with senior leaders on a range of issues of importance to Israel including the Iranian nuclear threat, Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, arms smuggling into Lebanon, the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and the strengthening of strategic relations between Israel and the European Union.
During the visit President Peres will meet with heads of state including the President of France, Francois Hollande (08.03), the Prime Minister of Belgium Elio Di Rupo (06.03) and the President of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev (06.03) as well as with the leaders of the European Union including the president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz (12.03), the president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso (07.03) and the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy (06.03). The meetings will take place in the context of the inquiry into the terror attack in Bulgaria which found that Hezbollah was responsible for the bombing and the subsequent discussions within Europe on the consequences.
President Peres will also hold strategic meetings with the Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen (08.03 in Brussels) and the OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria (08.03 in Paris) before delivering a speech to the senior economic forum of the OECD which will include hundreds of representatives of global companies, heads of the economic committees and the ambassadors of the member countries. President Peres will lay out his vision for the role of global companies in creating change in the Middle East.
President Peres will conclude the visit with an historic speech in Strasbourg before the European Parliament. The speech will be the first by an Israeli leader before the European Parliament in its current format.
