Shimon Peres, Tony Blair Say Solving Poverty will End Cause of Terror

Two world leaders joined Yalta Annual Meeting founder Victor Pinchuk on a panel to discuss “Global Challenges and Their Interconnection,” today at the 12^th YES Annual Meeting. Shimon Peres, the former president of the State of Israel, called for the world to fight poverty and ignorance, not terrorism in the Middle East, as a way to address the most pressing global crises and create a more peaceful and cooperative wider Europe.  

"We must fight the causes of terror, which are poverty, ignorance. This will take a lot of time," Peres said.

For his part, former British prime minister Tony Blair expressed the view that in order to change the situation in the Middle East, it is imperative to engage the next generation of young people, and facilitate their education and development. Blair also expressed his view that we could not afford to avoid the regions around the world where terrorism is rooted and persists. "I think that it is necessary to go to these regions and be ready to suppress and eliminate them. It is very difficult for people to admit it and say this out loud," he said.

The 12th Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting is streamed live at yes-ukraine.org as well as web-sites of the Media Partners in English and Ukrainian.

The official Twitter of the 12^th YES Annual Meeting is @yes_ukraine, and participants and followers can include the hashtag: #YESUkraine2015.