Oren Helman Chosen as GPO Director
(Communicated by the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry
Spokesman)

A tenders committee that convened last night (Tuesday), 14.9.10, and which
was chaired by Educational Television Director-General Yaffa Wigotzky,
unanimously selected Oren Helman to serve as Director of the Government
Press Office. He will succeed Danny Seaman, who has held the post since
2000.

Helman has a master's degree in public administration and has served - inter
alia - as Israel Broadcast Authority Spokesman and an adviser to Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the latter served as Finance Minister.

The Government Press Office is part of the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora
Affairs Ministry and is responsible for being in contact and dealing with
foreign journalists in the country, issuing official press cards to
journalists and media employees in Israel, coordinating media coverage for
state events and official visits by foreign leaders. It is also responsible
for the National Photo Collection.

Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Ministry Director-General Ronen Plot
said that, "I would like to both thank outgoing GPO Director Danny Seaman
for his dedicated work and welcome incoming Director Oran Helman. We view
the GPO as an important body, especially regarding the contact with the
foreign press that is so critical to the image of the State of Israel as it
appears to the world. The challenges are many and I believe that the
incoming GPO Director will know how to deal with them successfully,
establish the GPO as a significant coordination and information body, and
also adapt the work of the GPO to the age of the new media and in order to
meet the missions that await it in the future."

For further details, please contact Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs
Ministry Spokesman Gal Ilan at 02-6587120, 050-6207774 or Beeper #22282.