Israeli Foreign Minister Peres to Hold Press Conference Today to Encourage American Students to Continue to Study in Israel.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 2002

Academic, Industry and Political Leaders to Discuss Catalysts for

Peace in the Middle East at Annual Symposium and Dinner

Academic, industry and political leaders will discuss the catalysts for long-term peace in the Middle East during a symposium and annual dinner hosted by the American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU), today in New York City.

This event, which aims to encourage more students to study in Israel, will be held at Cipriani's, 110 East 42nd Street.

At 6:15 p.m. at the same location, leaders of the university, joined by Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister of the State of Israel and recipient of the Noble Peace Prize, will host a press conference. Mr. Peres will also deliver the keynote address at the dinner, beginning at 7 p.m. following the press conference. The guest speaker will be Prof. Avishay Braverman, president, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

The symposium, which begins at 4:00 p.m., is entitled "Biotechnology - A Force for Peace: The Economic Implications of Biotechnology in the Negev." Featured panelists include the President of Scripps Research Institute, as well as dignitaries from the University of Oxford, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Ben-Gurion University and Princeton University. The symposium will be followed by a dinner honoring Lloyd M. Goldman, president of BLDG Management Company, as well as national vice president of the American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, for his continued dedication to supporting education in Israel.

Through his family's involvement in the Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School at BGU, Mr. Goldman plays a leadership role in supporting Ben-Gurion students with scholarships and other opportunities for academic advancement. BLDG was one of the main investors and equity owners of the World Trade Center.

The only Israeli university to be founded by an act of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev was established in 1969 with a unique mission: to develop the Negev Desert, the land and its people. Prof. Avishay Braverman currently serves as the university's fifth President, and the university has achieved recognition as a world-class academic and research center. In the last decade, student population has tripled to over 16,000. With campuses in Beer-Sheva and Sede Boker, BGU has become the central force in the educational, agricultural, technological, cultural and social development of the Negev, which comprises 60 percent of the land of Israel.