Even in the midst of the most severe global economic crisis for 70 years, President Shimon Peres remains optimistic. "There has been a puncture, but even if your best friend dies, you don't have to get into the coffin," Peres told "Globes" at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "It seems as though this year they only invited pessimists, but I received permission to be optimistic," Peres added. "Today, it's the fashion, to be miserable and pessimistic, but in my opinion the crisis is also an opportunity for us," he said.
At the World Economic Forum, Peres has held a series of meetings with business people, with the aim of setting up joint investment funds with Israel. "You have to remember that the brain fills the wallet, not the other way round. Israel has an exceptionally good reputation for research, and this can be exploited."
Peres believes that the investment funds should mainly focus on water, stem cells, and learning aids. "The problem is financing these investments. Since we don’t have a surplus of cash, we have to make agreements between governments and companies," he says.
In a meeting with Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin, the two discussed economic and scientific cooperation between Israel and Russia, and agreed on the setting up of bi-national funds for developing products they described as the industries of the future, chiefly in the area of defense against terror. "I intend to instruct the Russian government to take action to promote this matter," Putin said, "Russia is interested in expanding cooperation between it and Israel."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 29, 2009
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