President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca visited the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Center in Jerusalem. During her visit, the President also laid a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance. The wreath was laid on a stone slab under which the ashes of the Holocaust victims from the six extermination camps are buried.
Addressing the media following the signing of the Visitor’s Book, President Coleiro Preca spoke about the importance of peace education stating that, “by educating new generations of children, young people, and educators, we can better the chances for our future generations to work for peace, and to live in a peaceful and respectful world, where each and every one of us is treated as a valuable collaborator”.
President Coleiro Preca said that our acknowledgement of the suffering which the Holocaust represents must be translated into a firm commitment to promote and to prioritise the dignity and the wellbeing of all people who are experiencing precarity, vulnerability, discrimination and abuse.
At Present, Yad Vashem has two Memoranda of Understanding in place with the Ministry for Education and Employment and with the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society. Through the MoU with the President’s Foundation, Yad Vashem representatives visit Malta every January to participate actively in the activities organised by the Foundation on the occasion of World Holocaust Remembrance Day, which also include school visits.
As part of her official visit to Israel, President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca held bilateral talks with President of Israel Reuven Rivlin at the Presidential Palace in Jerusalem.
Both presidents spoke of the potential that there is to transform Malta and Israel’s excellent bilateral relations into tangible collaborations, where both our countries can collaborate in various sectors including the commercial, the cultural and the tourism sectors.
“We need to engage on as many levels as possible, even through our institutions, and even at civil society level”, President Coleiro Preca said, whilst adding that following a meeting which was held with the Malki Foundation, which empowers people with disability, it was agreed that a collaboration with Malta will be looked into in the near future.
The President said that such connections will definitely lead to sustainable friendships between our peoples, “and when one establishes friendship, then the issue of respect comes second to nature”. The President said that if there is respect, then there is much more room for positive peace.
President Coleiro Preca also said that the relationship between the peoples of Malta and Israel is built upon our shared Mediterranean identity, further stating that “as nations from this important region of the world, we must be the guardians of hope and promoters of human rights, for the benefit of both present and future generations”.
The President was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne, Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate Change José Herrera, Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government and Communities Silvio Parnis, and Ambassador of Malta to Israel Cecilia Attard-Pirotta.