In March of 1997, President Abboud and several members and their wives traveled to Cairo to attend the Presidential Peace Conference that was held there.
The Conference was a great success as the euphoria for the approaching peace in our area was at its best. Egypt first Lady Suzan Mubarak gave the opening speech and Past President of the State of Israel Itzhac Navon gave the main speech in the evening. His speech was in Arabic and was interrupted by clapping several times.
An interesting event took place when PP Yusef Srouji, by chance met a university colleague from the days of the American University of Beirut whom he had not seen or heard from since 1949 – Jamile Dunia migrated from Beirut Lebanon in 1950 to Caraces in Venezuela and started there his business career.
Jamile joined Rotary and was promoted within a short time to become a VIP in Rotary until he was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of Rotary International.