Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel was honoured at a unique ceremony at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in January at a ceremony attended by hundreds of business and public leaders from across the world.

President Peres was awarded the Spirit of Davos award for his work in furthering peace, economics and technology in the world.

The Founder and Chairperson of the WEF, Mr. Klaus Schwab said, “A great leader in my definition has brains, he has vision, he has a soul and he has values and he has a heart which means passion and compassion. You have it and you have shown it again. In this spirit, and very exceptionally I have the great honor to give you an award for global leadership.”

“We felt we must do something special so have a Golden Bell and the text is President Shimon Peres a unique visionary and global statesman for tolling the bell of peace and harmony.”

President Peres thanked the WEF for the award and said, “This is the product of the Israeli effort, I am the humble recipient of it on behalf of the Israeli people. We have to use it in the Middle East to call the people to peace.”
Before the award ceremony President Peres took part in a special plenary with Mr. Klaus Schwab during which he addressed the major issues on the agenda in the Middle East today.

When asked whether Iran is serious about giving up its nuclear weapons programme, President Peres responded, “It will be serious if they didn’t build nuclear weapons but just saying so isn’t serious. Iran doesn’t need the P5+1 to stop the nuclear programme, noone forces Iran to build nuclear missiles. No-one forces Iran to support Hezbollah, which is today the greatest killer in Syria. If Iran continues with its current actions then they will see that the world won’t accept this dangerous behaviour.”