Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion touted developments in the city under his watch, telling a New York conference that the city's Jewish and Arab populations have benefitted from the changes.
Speaking at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York Monday, Lion said that the changes he is making in the city, from increasing recycling, reducing pollution, and adding high-tech office space, to investing in infrastructure, are intended to benefit both Jews and Arabs equally.
The mayor added that this is best evidenced by a 2,000 square-meter technology hub that the municipality is building in eastern Jerusalem, that, he predicted, would bring opportunity and investment from both Israeli and international firms.
In recent years, the capital has been transformed into a high-tech center, said the mayor, with more than 600 hi-tech firms headquartered in the city that employ more than 20,000 people. To that end, Lion said that the city is building 1.6 million square meters of high-tech work and office space throughout the city, both in East and West Jerusalem, over the next three years.
Lion said that Jerusalem is a mosaic of cultures, traditions and identities and told conference attendees that it is his responsibility to ensure that the disparate groups that make up the city’s population have the space and opportunity to build a shared future in the city.
Lion thanked the friends of Jerusalem in New York and throughout the United States and around the world for their support and prayers for the city. “Nothing we achieve would be possible
without your support,” said Lion, who invited those in attendance to visit Jerusalem.