30 YEARS OF AJC HISTORY
1992 Project Interchange becomes an AJC Institute . Since inception , Project Interchange has brought nearly 6,000 leaders from 110 countries to Israel , including memorable international figures such as The Honorable Sonia Sotomayor , U . S . Supreme Court Associate Justice ; Lonnie Bunch III , Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and Founding Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture ; Ambassador Felix Klein , Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight Against Antisemitism ; and Luis Lacalle Pou , President of Uruguay .
December 3 , 1992 Michio Watanabe becomes the first foreign minister of Japan to meet with an American Jewish delegation . During the meeting , he tells an AJC group led by David Harris that his government has urged the Arab states to end their economic boycott of Israel and advised Japanese companies to cease cooperation with it . At this time , Japan is the world ’ s 2nd largest economy after the U . S ., and this reversal has a profound impact on ties between Japan and Israel . A top Japanese official credits “ five years of patient diplomacy by AJC ” with ending the embargo .
1992 1993 1994
30 YEARS OF WORLD HISTORY
November 1 , 1993 The European Union and European citizenship are established with the Maastricht Treaty .
May 10 , 1994 Nelson Mandela , an antiapartheid activist and lawyer , is inaugurated as the first non-white President of South Africa .
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