The mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski, will host the 25th Jerusalem Conference of Mayors next week. The conference, entitled “The City as Capital and Metropolitan Center,” is sponsored by the Council for World Jewry, in association with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Approximately 40 mayors of capital cities and metropolitan centers from around the world are expected to take part in the conference, which will be held in Israel's capital on October 14-18, 2007.
Among the cities that will be represented at the conference this year are Kiev, London, Dublin, Addis Ababa, Leipzig, Dortmund, Lima, Zagreb, Montevideo, Quito, La Paz, Banja Luka, Tbilisi, and Cincinnati, Ohio; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Providence, Rhode Island; Madison, Wisconsin, and many more.
The mayors will participate in round-table sessions that will explore the various challenges facing modern metropolitan areas. Among the topics that will be discussed: the metropolis and capital city as government centers, intercultural and economic challenges facing cities, and the role of mayors in the international arena. The visiting mayors will meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, President Shimon Peres, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, tour various sights of Jerusalem and meet with local businessmen and volunteers.
"The gathering of colleagues from all around the world is a golden opportunity to expose them to Jerusalem and to learn from their experience," said Jerusalem Mayor Lupolianski. "I'm sure that the conference will be the beginning of future cooperation between the cities."
“In sponsoring this annual gathering of mayors from around the world we hope to give them a fresh outlook of Jerusalem, and a new understanding of Israel and its achievements,” said AJ Congress and Council for World Jewry Chairman Jack Rosen. “Mayors' Conference alumni are among Israel’s best ambassadors of good will.”
The principal aims of the Council for World Jewry include addressing tensions and narrowing the gaps between peoples of different backgrounds and faiths. It seeks to devise programs of education and public advocacy, combat the rampant anti-Semitism that disfigures so many parts of the globe, support Israel, and promote the establishment of humanitarian and civil rights for all.