Speeches

Statements by Senior

Embassy Officials

Ambassador Richard H. Jones Remarks

at Cisco Systems Israel Event

May 28, 2007, 21:00

It is an honor and a pleasure to join you tonight in recognizing Cisco Systems for its corporate success and its tremendous community involvement in Israel.  Cisco is truly an outstanding corporate citizen in Israel.  Beginning here with only 25 employees a decade ago, Cisco today employs some 650 people in Israel, which is now home to its second largest design center outside of the United States.  Cisco has also made a number of acquisitions in Israel over the past eight years totaling $8 billion and invested hundreds of millions of dollars more in twenty other Israeli high-tech companies.  Many of these companies are familiar names in Israel, and have played a key role in Cisco’s success worldwide.

However, tonight, I would like to focus more on the contributions that Cisco is making to the local community. As the American Ambassador to Israel, I greatly appreciate it when U.S. companies such as Cisco take it upon themselves to sponsor activities which help enrich the lives of average people throughout Israel.  In doing so, they demonstrate that they are good corporate citizens of Israel and they also present Israelis one of the noblest aspects of American culture, the desire to help others.  The contributions that they make to personal development and the strong friendships that grow out of their activities help tremendously to bring our two nations closer together.  Not only does this make my job a lot easier, but it also helps everyone understand that the strong relationship between the United States and Israel is much more about shared values and ideas, cooperation, and partnership, than it is about cold calculations of political or commercial interest.

I have noticed that the most successful companies, in the United States and in Israel, also tend to be the ones that take their contributions to their communities most seriously.  And so they should.  Training disadvantaged youths, funding community projects, or contributing to institutions of higher learning create the economic and social synergies that inspire creativity and growth in the local market.

By the sheer number of activities it is involved in, Cisco clearly takes its community service seriously.  However, the quality of your activities is even more impressive.  Cisco’s contributions to Israel include an investment in the Cisco Network Academy, which consists of over 50 academies enrolling 1,700 students in its training programs. 

Also benefiting from Cisco’s visionary contributions is Neve Hadassah, a youth village located near Netanya that provides over 300 young immigrants with the skills to adjust to a new environment in Israel, helping them to master Hebrew and integrate into their new society.  The organization concerns itself not only with normal problems of adjusting to a new language and environment, and ensuring the health and well-being of every child, but also with each child’s general, social, moral and educational development.

Another program based on Cisco’s Network Academy is the “Neta” project, an innovative educational program that helps young Israelis, including Arabs, to become high-tech professionals and contributors to their community.  The Neta project trains young people in computer sciences to help them become part of the technical and socio-economic fabric of modern Israel. 

Please join me now in applauding these spectacular contributions that Cisco is making to community development every day in Israel.  (Clap)  Thank you.  I am now pleased to turn the floor over to Ms. Bina Rezinovsky, General Manager, Cisco Systems Israel.

Thank you very much.