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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this evening, convened the Government business and voluntary sectors roundtable.
Prime Minister's Office Director-General Ra'anan Dinur presented the assistance package that was built by the Prime Minister's Office and the Finance Ministry in order to aid social organizations during the economic crisis. In the framework of the package, it was decided to create a "Center for Social Initiatives" for approximately NIS 6 million in emergency assistance to social organizations, with the PMO financing 50% of the cost.
Government efforts will be concentrated in encouraging contributions from small donors and in encouraging voluntary organizations. PMO Dir.-Gen. Dinur will chair a committee to reduce bureaucratic impediments and establish coordination mechanisms between the Government and the business and voluntary sectors.
Prime Minister Olmert noted the importance of the roundtable at the current time and commended the cooperation between the Government and the business and voluntary sectors. He said (inter alia): "We are in a complicated period and not because of just the diplomatic-security reality, which is – to our regret – no different from what we have become accustomed to since the country was founded, but due to the economic crisis that has come to us from the world. The roundtable is one of the tools through which we can try to better stabilize ourselves and can reach populations that, in its absence, would feel the crisis more deeply."
The PMO held the first roundtable meeting in July, in cooperation with Sheatufim and Elka.
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