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Shimon Peres to Meet Carlos Slim at Mexico Business Conference

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World's richest man, Carlos Slim, talks business with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Mexico
World’s richest man, Carlos Slim, talks business with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Mexico
On Tuesday, November 26, Israeli President Shimon Peres departed on a state visit to Mexico at the head of a delegation of 80 leading Israeli companies in the fields of security, cyber, UAVs, technology, communication, water and energy.

Amongst those companies represented in the delegation for the six-day state visit are Rafael, Teva, Amdocs, Netafim, Tamar Group, Strauss, Babcom, Amiad and others.

After receiving an invitation from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, President Peres’ focus of the visit will be to strengthen and expand the strategic, diplomatic and economic ties between Israel and Mexico.

Within the economic and cultural spheres, Peres will participate in two major events, the first being the Israel Mexico Business Conference, which he and Pena Nieto will open together with Carlos Slim, the richest man in Mexico. Slim, who is of Lebanese descent, plays musical chairs with Bill Gates for the title of the world’s richest person, according to the Jerusalem Post. Some 500 people are expected to attend the two-day business conference in Mexico City.

Peres and Slim have known each other for several years now, and have met at various international forums.

The Mexican business group led by Slim will present the range of activities and possibilities for cooperation with Grupo Carso and America Movil to the Israeli delegation.

Slim gained notoriety when he led a group of investors that included France Telecom and Southwestern Bell Corporation in buying Telmex and Telnor from the Mexican government in 1990 in a public tender during the presidency of Carlos Salinas. Slim was able to raise money for a telecommunications company by purchasing standby letters of credit which enabled him to obtain guaranteed loans which provided the capital. Today, 90 percent of the telephone lines in Mexico are operated by Telmex. These operations have financed Slim’s expansion abroad.

Over the years, his wireless carrier América Móvil has bought cell phone companies across Latin America, and is now the region’s dominant company, with more than 100 million subscribers. Slim was once MCI’s largest shareholder, with 13% ownership. On April 11, 2005, The Wall Street Journal announced that he had sold his stake in MCI to Verizon Communications.

Mr. Slim also leads “Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina SAB de CV”. also known as IDEAL which roughly translated means, “Promoter of Development and Employment in Latin America”. It is a Mexico-based company primarily engaged in infrastructure development and is active in transportation, crude oil and gas, power, water, real estate and technology. Within these sectors, the company performs as a concessionaire of highways, hydroelectric plants projects, electronic toll collection systems and ports. It is also engaged in the exploration, production, transport, refinement and distribution of crude oil and gas mainly through offshore oil platforms for deep waters. Additionally, it is engaged in the construction and operation of water treatment plants, investments and development of both urban and rural properties, primarily in the commercial, health and education sectors.

In January 2009, Slim invested $250 million to bolster the then-ailing balance sheet of the New York Times Company.

The Jerusalem post reported that while in Mexico City, Peres will have a working meeting with Pena Nieto in which he will discuss issues such as the most recent developments vis-a-vis Iran’s nuclear program, the Israeli Palestinian peace process and the urgency of putting an end to the civil war in Syria.

Following the meeting the two presidents will deliver joint statements to the press.

President Peres will then deliver a diplomatic speech to the Mexican Congress before 128 members of Senate, and meet with senior government officials. In his speech President Peres will address the importance of strengthening the relations between Israel and Mexico as well as Israel and Latin America as a whole.

During the second part of the visit (Friday), President Peres will visit Guadalajara and open the Israeli pavillion at the Guadalajara 2013 International Book Fair. This year Israel was chosen as the guest of honor at the book fair, which is one of the most important in the world and the largest in the Spanish speaking world with over 700,000 visitors each year. The Israeli stand will showcase Israeli cultural including literature, poetry, arts, academia and publishers including David Grossman and Etgar Keret, Ronny Somek and Agi Mishol, Ivri Lider and Achinoam Nini and Nobel Chemistry Prize laureate Professor Ada Yonath. The Israeli delegation will host over 200 cultural activities across the city and present the best of Israeli culture.

The 1,750 square meter Israeli pavilion will have areas in which Israelis can dialogue with visitors to the fair and will not only showcase national novelists and poets, but cultural icons from the visual and performing arts as well as academia.

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