The first award ceremony for the Shimon Peres Lifetime Awards on behalf of ILAN – the Israel Latin America Network – in partnership with the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, was held on Thursday.
The ceremony was attended by Israel's Deputy Minister of Defense Alon Schuster; Chairman of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, Chemi Peres; ILAN founder, leading philanthropist and businessman Isaac Assa; alongside diplomats and representatives of countries across Latin and Central America.
During the ceremony, awards were given to key groundbreaking figures with a global reputation who have promoted relations between Israel and Latin America in the areas of health, quality of environment, economy and technology.
"Over the last year we directly developed unique connections between the State of Israel and Latin American countries," founder Isaac Issa said. "Through ILAN, we formed strategic alliances with a number of branches throughout America, which will strengthen the economic, diplomatic and social resilience of the countries. In a few years, the Spanish-speaking population in the United States will increase to 100 million people, and therefore strengthening these connections is a supreme goal in the interest of the states and the peoples. With the help of the Israeli brain, the innovation and the local courage, we will be able to make ground-breaking international achievements."
Chairman of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, Chemi Peres quoted the later Israeli President Shimon Peres, saying, "The future does not merely need to be imagined, but to be created". He added that "it is an honor to see people like those we are celebrating today, creating it, each striving for change in their own fields, change for good, change that will impact Israel, Latin America and the world."
ILAN is a pro-Israeli network for Israel-Latin American relations that was established last year by Isaac Issa, a Jewish Mexican-Syrian businessman and philanthropist. The network works to promote and strengthen Israel's relations with Latin America and the United States through exposing Israeli innovation in the areas of high-tech, health, and economics to Latin American countries.
