Ecuadorian President Brings Large Delegation to Yerushalayim

BY Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – For the first time, a sitting president of Ecuador is visiting Israel.

Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso and his wife and a delegation of about 100 people were welcomed by President Isaac Herzog at the President’s Residence on Wednesday.

During their visit, Lasso and his wife Maria de Lourdes Alcivar, are slated to open Ecuador’s Office for technology and innovation at the Hebrew University in Yerushalayim.

The 100-member group, composed of government and business people, with 50 young people specializing in innovation, will stay in the country for two weeks visiting universities and surveying innovative projects.

With occasional exceptions, Ecuador has been a friend of Israel since before the establishment of the state. The South American nation was one of the 33 United Nations member states that voted in favor of the partition of Palestine on November 29, 1947, clearing the way for Israel’s eventual independence the following year.

Although Quito and Yerushalayim established diplomatic relations over sixty years ago, no president of Israel has visited Ecuador and no president of Ecuador had previously been to Israel.

Former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, who was due to visit Israel in 2014, canceled because of the 51-day Gaza war that year.

Ecuador has a Palestinian population of over 14,000 people.