In late August, Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez visited Israel with several B'nai B'rith International representatives, including Director of Latin American Affairs Eduardo Kohn and World Center Director Alan Schneider. During the trip, Vazquez met with several influential members of the Israeli government, including a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres during a state dinner.

Vazquez also visited Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, located in Petach Tikvah.  He visit was in preparation for the Israeli-Latin American Symposium on Children's Cancer Diseases, an initiative arranged by B'nai B'rith Uruguay. The symposium will bring five doctors and nurses from the Schneider Center to Uruguay for workshops with 120 medical professionals from several Latin American communities from Sept. 3-5.

Vazquez spent time at the Weizmann Institute (he graduated in 1982) and discussed the need to create a Weizmann Institute based in Montevideo for the use of all MERCOSUR countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Mexico.