New focus on business bears fruit for J'lem conference

Mayors from all over the world connect with Israel in a business way that is mutually beneficial.

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
climate conference 224.8 (photo credit: AP)
climate conference 224.8
(photo credit: AP)
The 26th Jerusalem Conference of Mayors, under way in the capital this week with more than 40 mayors and governors from across the globe, is replete with the de rigueur Foreign Ministry and city hall briefings, tours of the Old City, and swanky, festive dinners. It is primarily intended as a get-to-know-Israel conference of local government leaders from around the world. It is also the quintessential mix of tourism and socializing, with a little international municipal comparison and discussion mixed in. Past conferences have focused almost exclusively on trying to turn the visitors into goodwill ambassadors. But starting last year, the US mayors in attendance were provided with business-development meetings so that they could bring something tangible back to their communities. "The idea was to allow the mayors to connect with Israel in a business way that is mutually beneficial," said Richard Gordon, president of the American Jewish Congress, which is sponsoring the conference along with the Foreign Ministry and the Jerusalem Municipality. Gordon said that time constraints, and the fact that he heads an American organization, meant the business talks had to be limited to the US mayors. Those meetings are already bearing fruit. Dayton Mayor Rhine McClin, who attended last year's mayoral conference and business briefing, is heading a 22-member business mission to Israel this week. "Initially I came to the mayor's conference and I didn't know what to expect," McClin said Tuesday as she headed to the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa for a series of meetings. After last year's visit, she asked Ohio's commercial attache to Israel, Richard Schottenstein, to come to Dayton to promote the business delegation now visiting Israel. Schottenstein had previously worked out joint projects between Israel and other Ohio cities including Cleveland and Columbus. McClin said it was "natural" for her city, an aerospace and manufacturing center, to do business with Israel. She said the primarily concern of Dayton residents was jobs and economic growth. "How we get there doesn't make such a difference to them as long as we get there. They want to see the sausage on the table, just as long as it is kosher," she quipped. "Our goal is to establish high-level business relationships with Israeli companies," said Debbie Lieberman, county commissioner of Montgomery Country, where Dayton is located. Organizers said the business ties were a win-win venture. "Now they can say 'I went to Israel and I came back with more than a picture of myself on a camel,'" said Danny Grossman, director of the AJCongress's Israel office.