Ukrainian businessman and philantrophist Vadim Shulman has been elected as new president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, the regional affiliate of the World Jewish Congress in eastern Europe and Asia. He succeeds EAJC founding President Alexander Machkevitch of Kazakhstan. Shulman holds Ukrainian, Russian and Israeli citizenship. In Jerusalem, the 51-year-old was unimously confirmed by the delegates on the General Council as interim president of the organization and is expected to be reconfirmed by next year's EAJC General Assembly.
Shulman was unable to be present at the session as he is currently in mourning for his mother. He participated in the session through Skype, by means of which he presented his vision of future EAJC activity and answered a number of questions.
Participants of the General Council session were shown fragments of a film on international terrorism and radical Islamism co-produced by Shulman. In his address to delegates, the new EAJC leader said: “If you will trust me to lead the Congress, I will do everything within my power to preserve what the Congress is already doing. At the same time, I will try to give a new impulse which will bring EAJC priorities into even sharper focus.”
Shulman recently told an Israeli magazine: “Making money is not my main goal in my life – nor of those of many businessmen. Money is of course important and one has to invest it wisely but there are different forms of investment. The decision to invest in orphanages and hospitals, or fixing up religious institutes, benefits the donor not in nominal terms but gives him a sense of satisfaction.” In recent years Shulman has donated to Jewish causes in Dnepropetrovsk and Kiev. He is also the chairman of the Ukrainian Tennis Federation.
