The 86th Session of the Tourism Committee of the OECD opened yesterday in Jerusalem, hosted by Israel’s Ministry of Tourism.   This is  only the second time in its history that the Committee meeting is being held outside of Paris.

The Conference was opened with an address by the Minister of Tourism Stas Misezhnikov, who described the event as an ““important vote of confidence in Israel’s position as an economic leader,” and continued, “this is an exceptional occasion for the State of Israel as we are today inaugurating the first historic OECD event taking place in Israel.”

The Minister further said, “The OECD brings together governments of countries committed to democracy and to the market economy from around the world. This conference will therefore offer an ideal setting where we have the opportunity to exchange knowledge and know-how. In the tourism field, we realize our magical ability to build bridges between nations, societies, civilizations and cultures, and this conference will enable us to jointly work towards realizing those objectives.”

The first OECD event to take place in Israel since the country became an official member of the organization, the session welcomed high-level delegations from 28 OECD members. The conference opened with a closed-door session of the Tourism Committee, and will be followed by a high-level roundtable, devoted to issues of green tourism and the role OECD member nations have in promoting environmentally-friendly initiatives particularly in the hotel and aviation industries. Israeli business leaders and economists will be in attendance for the Roundtable and a team of academics from the University of Haifa and the Sorbonne will present research detailing the travel industry’s impact on the environment and new directions the international community can take to limit its damage.
Opening Address of Mr. Stas Misezhnikov,
Minister of Tourism of Israel, at the
86th Session of the OECD Tourism Committee in Jerusalem

Dear Madam Isabel Hill, Chair of the OECD Tourism Committee,
Dear Delegates, Observers and Invitees,
Dear members of the Secretariat, Mr. Sergio ARZENI & Mr. Alain DUPEYRAS, who have invested so much in cooperation with the administration of my ministry for the realization of this conference in Israel,

Shalom & welcome to you all at the opening of the 86th Session of the OECD Tourism Committee usually held in Paris and for this time in Jerusalem. This is in fact an exceptional occasion for the State of Israel – we are inaugurating here and today the first historic OECD event taking place in Israel.

In today’s interdependent economy, we face the challenge of supporting sustainable economic growth in a borderless financial world, bearing in mind that we must boost employment and raise the living standards.

The OECD, which brings together governments of countries committed to democracy and to the market economy from around the world, offers an ideal setting where we have the opportunity to exchange knowledge and know-how. In the tourism field, we compare policy experiences, seeking for answers to common problems and identifying the good practice. In the frame of the OECD, we, the Member States, carry out analyses and forecast of our policies and strive to coordinate their implementation at the domestic and international level.

The OECD was established in the wake of World War II in order to implement the Marshall Plan. Today the organization counts 32 market economy democracies formally collaborating with 70 developing and emerging economies. It is a successful framework transforming the approach and relations between nations and a raw model for our region where a stable and strong economy would benefit all the inhabitants.

Moreover, dealing with tourism, our field of expertise, we realize our magic ability to build bridges between nations, societies, civilizations, cultures – in other words, facilitate the voyage to the other, meeting him in his environment permitting to develop beyond expectations the human social dimension.

Based upon stability and common interest, cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem are cooperating for the well-being of thousands of visitors, daily crossing from Israel to the Palestinian Authority and vice-versa, benefiting the citizens of those cities. I am confident that this tourism dynamism will spread and we can anticipate the combination with other localities like Jericho joining in that form of cooperation.

Among international organizations, the OECD is the strongest, most effective proponent of open, competitive innovative market economies. Through its pioneering public policy research, and effective approach, involving the public and private sectors, the OECD is a dynamic international incubator for new ideas.

In the course of this Session, the peer review of tourism in Italy will be presented – a concrete lesson for all of us from a leading country in the field of Tourism. Our professional team at the Ministry of Tourism will initiate a special meeting with the Italian delegation in order to make best use of the study of the Italian experience undertaking an appropriate analysis of the strengths and weaknesses in our systems.

We will be focusing in the three forthcoming days on the professional agenda of tourism.  The OECD’s economic analysis and surveillance is recognized among the best in the world. It fixes international standards supported by the public and private sector. This is an adequate forum where listening to each other permits to project for the future and do best for the international industry of tourism.

This regular session of the tourism committee will be followed back-to-back by a High Level Round Table fostering on “Green Tourism”. We will have the opportunity of being addressed by academics in an innovative research, leading figures from the industry and prominent economists. Our keynote speakers, Dr. Taleb RIFAI, the Secretary General of the UNWTO, Mr. Aart DE GEUS, Deputy Secretary General of the OECD and Prof. Stanley Fisher, the Governor of the Bank of Israel will enrich our unique encounter here in Israel. Just to mention, that the governor of the Bank of Israel, is one of the architect of the solid economy of the State of Israel which overcame in good terms the last world crisis.

In 2009, close to two million seven hundred thousand visitors entered Israel. As we know, due to the global economic crisis, the year 2009 opened on a difficult trend. We adopted and implemented a new concept positioning Israel in its exclusive tourist particularities focusing on History, Culture and Religion. At the same time we maintained the interest in the other leisure elements. Beginning from May 2009, we started to benefit from this new policy, the trend changed and we will be concluding the year 2010 with close to 3.3 million tourists  – a remarkable increase of more than half million tourists. Concerning our hotels infrastructure built on close to 48 thousand rooms, we noted a high level of occupancy along the year.

Israel is positioned today as a destination in the general market offering culture and discovery, leisure and fun preserving the particularities of our sites. The religious and historical heritage of Israel and our region, cradle of the monotheist civilizations and cultures, belongs to the world collective memory.

The advanced infrastructure of Israel permits to tour and discover the country in comfort from the green and serene Galilee to the inspiring desert of the Negev, from the trendy and hi-tech Tel Aviv to the spiritual and cultural Jerusalem, leisure and fun in Eilat and magic facing the Sea of Galilee from the city of Tiberias.

The Dead Sea – the lowest place on earth – is competing as an international site on behalf of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority against 27 other natural sites around the world in the finals of the New 7 Wonders of Nature global campaign. Another productive area of cooperation.

Out of the basic values that our region contributed to the world modern society, tourism transmits reciprocate openness, constructive dialogue, recognition of each other and tolerance in mutual respect.

Dear guests, accept on behalf of the State of Israel and the Ministry of Tourism, our most welcome and warmest shalom here in Jerusalem, City of all memories.

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Last night, the President of the State of Israel commenced the remembrance events marking 15 years since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin with a candle lighting ceremony in the President’s Residence. The President made a speech and lit a “Yitzhak remembrance candle” in the slain Prime Minister’s memory.

In his speech, the President described the days and the evening preceding the murder, and addressed reports that today’s youth does not remember who Yitzhak Rabin was: “A ‘Yitzhak remembrance candle’ was lit this evening on the 15th anniversary of his murder. This is a candle of the commitment to peace. He vowed that its flame will never be extinguished. From the foothills of Mt. Sinai to the edges of Rabin Square, one commandment has stood firm throughout the generations: Thou shalt not kill. Do not kill a person. Do not kill an idea. Murder is a crime that may never be forgiven or forgotten. Neither the flow of time nor attenuation nor euphoria nor fatigue can avert us from this commandment. We observe a day of remembrance because we must fight against forgetfulness. Such forgetfulness is the enemy of humankind, and also endangers democracy.”

The President described the character of Rabin’s leadership: “Yitzhak knew that a leader does not rest on yesterday’s laurels. He led according to a vision. He knew that in today’s volatile reality, he who tarries is in danger. He who dares, reaches far-flung, powerful realms. Yitzhak did not fear what may come because he knew that there is no escaping it, and that it must be faced head-on. You make what you must out of it, in order to see the morrow come, even if at a higher price than today’s rates. Yitzhak was determined to move forwards towards peace, although he was aware of the difficulties from without and from within. The difficulties were not merely theoretical. He felt a tailwind at home and stood against a raging wind from the outside. He did not try to sugarcoat tough situations or evade dealing with them. He let neither himself nor others harbor false hopes. He knew that confronting the new reality would involve heavy risks, but that thereby, and sometimes only thereby, lay the greatest chances.”

At the end of his speech the President said, “The tears have not dried up. The candles have not expired. Nor has the evening. We shall return to the oath secreted in our hearts – we shall not forget his image. We shall not digress from his path. Peace is his last will and testament.”

Participating in the ceremony were the Rabin family, officials from the highest echelon of the Israeli government, members of the youth movements, and schoolchildren from the Rabin school in Shoham. Family representative Yuval Rabin also gave a speech in memory of Prime Minister Rabin.

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“Twenty-five years ago our countries launched the United States–Israel Free Trade Agreement. Since its entry into force, the flow of trade has increased, investment has grown, and our economies have become more competitive. The benefits of expanding trade have flowed to US and Israeli businesses, farmers, workers, and consumers.

Today we met to celebrate our achievements and to lay a course for the future. Trade between our countries has blossomed. From 1985 to 2009, trade between the United States and Israel has increased 500 percent, from $4.7 billion to $28.3 billion. Each day we conduct nearly $78 million in bilateral trade. We are committed to developing new and creative ways to promote trade.

Toward that end, we agreed to reinvigorate our trading relationship and to ensure that the benefits of our economic relationship are further shared and sustainable. We asked officials to develop, by the beginning of 2011, a workplan that would address remaining barriers to our bilateral trade that will help us to fully realize the potential gains to both countries from our FTA including a renewed effort to explore opportunities available under liberalized trade in agriculture and services. We also continue to explore cooperation in other areas, including addressing regulatory differences to ensure the free movement of goods, services and capital through modern and efficient borders. This forward-looking workplan should draw upon the work already underway, as well as incorporate new elements developed in consultation with all relevant stakeholders. As initial steps under the workplan:

• We agreed to pursue negotiations towards implementation of a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) for conformity assessment of telecommunications equipment. Technical experts will meet in the near future to discuss next steps towards implementation of a MRA.

• We committed to work together to explore ways we can facilitate trade under our current FTA by looking at our existing customs procedures and regulations.

The commitment we are taking today serves to remind us it is private enterprises, especially small- and medium-sized, that are key to maximizing trade and investment flows which provide sustained employment, higher incomes, and other critical economic benefits. We firmly believe that this series of meetings has moved our relationship in the direction of continuing to realize those benefits. We look forward to continued cooperation to this end in the coming years.”

Ron Kirk is the United States’ Trade Representative  and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer is Israel’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor

To read more about the Free Trade Agreement, click here.

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WASHINGTON, DC — As many countries lowered taxes during the economic crisis, Israel raised taxes, said Israeli Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz during a speech  to students and professors at John Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Traveling to Washington, DC for the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group, Minister Steinitz offered the audience a look into “Israel’s Unique Approach to the Global Economic Crisis.”

Photo: Kaveh Sardari, www.sardari.com

“[Other countries] sacrificed the future for the present and created large deficits. We decided that the long term is more important. According to economic philosophy, if you sacrifice the future, you in essence damage the present. Economics is mainly expectations for the future. Therefore, while the rest of the world lowered taxes, we raised indirect taxes. Now, as the rest of the world is raising taxes, we are in the midst of sharply lowering taxes for companies and individuals by 2016,” said Minister Steinitz.

He also pointed to the government’s use of a two-year or bi-annual budget, a system which Minister Steinitz points to as an important element to focus on the implementation, not the planning of the budget. “All governments are spending at least six months on planning and preparing the budgets, then they are spending six months focusing on implementing. Then they begin focusing on next year’s budget again. It is totally illogical,” Steinitz said. Earlier this year, the IMF even recommended the idea of a bi-annual budget, he said.

What Israel’s finance sector has done over the past few years has also received worldwide attention. Just today, Stanley Fischer, Governor of the Bank of Israel was awarded the prestigious title of “Best Bank Governor of the World” by industry-leading Euromoney.

“Israel’s resilience during its financial crisis and its aftermath prove that Stanley Fischer is worthy of the respect he commands at the top of the financial community,” according to the magazine. “His bold moves to raise interest rates in September 2009 – the first country to do so after the crisis, proved well guided and prescient. Further rises have also been well timed, allowing the economy to grow at a healthy rate of 4.7% in the second quarter of 2010 while keeping inflation in check around 1.8%. His innovative move towards an interventionist exchange rate policy, while controversial at the time, has bolstered Israel’s reserves while boosting the country’s exports, which are key to its economic performance. Despite Israel’s political and regional difficulties, Fischer’s policies contributed to Israel’s acceptance to the OECD in May this year.”

Here the full audio of Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz’s lecture at SAIS: http://www.sais-jhu.edu/news-and-events/index.htm

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On October 6th, 1973, on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack against Israel. Famously, only 436 Israelis along the Suez Canal found themselves facing an Egyptian force of 80,000. On the northern border of Israel, 180 Israeli tanks  defended the country from an invading force of 1,400 Syrian tanks.

Six hours earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir assembled  her cabinet as they debated what to do in the face of an impending attack. The minutes of this meeting, classified as top secret for 37 years, were released overnight to honor the anniversary of the war’s outbreak.

It is a historical fact that the 1973 war was started by Syria and Egypt, and to this day both countries celebrate it as a great victory, despite their military defeat. However, the minutes from the October 6th meeting suggest that Israeli defense and intelligence ministers knew they had sufficient time to launch a preemptive strike, but chose not to, fearing the international community would label Israel as the instigator.

Said Israel’s chief of the army at the time, “We can wipe out the entire Syrian air force at noon. We need another 30 hours to destroy the missiles. If they plan to attack at 5 pm, the Air Force will operate freely against the Syrian army. This is what we are capable of.”

Still, uncovering the internal debate, even 37 years later, speaks volumes as to the desire of the young state to avoid being demonized by the international community. The IDF Chief, David Elazar, believed that “calling all the reserves to duty before one shot has been fired – they’ll immediately say we are the aggressors.”

Golda Meir eventually decided against a preemptive strike, saying “this is not 1967. They (international community) won’t believe us.” The Prime Minister did order a gradual call for reserves, which helped Israel repel the initial attack and ready itself for a successful counterattack.

To this day, the Yom Kippur War is considered by Israelis to be, along with the War for Independence, the most important test for the Jewish state’s survival.

To read more from the declassified minutes, see this article over on Ynet.

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Haven’t we seen this before?

This past Sunday, one of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ top aides said, “The resumption of [peace] talks requires tangible steps, the first of them a freeze on settlements.”

It’s hard not to be overcome with a sense of déjà vu. Ten months ago, Israel ordered a 10-month freeze on settlement building, with the hopes of resuming peace talks. So what happened? Peace talks did resume, just last month. That was all well and good, until the Palestinians decided to play games. continue reading…

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