Yuri Stern

(1949- )

Yuri Stern was born in Moscow in 1949 and immigrated to Israel in 1981. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Moscow University.

He served as a Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics, Moscow University (1971-1981), and was active in the Zionist movement in the USSR (1978-1981). After immigrating to Israel, he was manager of the El David settlement (1983-1985), and one of the founders and spokesperson for the Soviet Jewry Education and Information Center, the Council of Immigrants Association, and the Soviet Jewry Zionist Forum (1983-1989).

From 1989-1992 he served as advisor to the Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee, and from 1990-1995 as director of the Department of Absorption and Entrepreneurship of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce. He also chaired the Forum for Trade and Industrial Relations with the C.I.S. and represented the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce in the USSR (1990-1991).

Yuri Stern was first elected to the Knesset in 1996 (14th) on the Yisrael Be'aliyah ticket, and in 1999 (15th) as a member of the Yisrael Beitenu faction.

He served as Chairman of the Knesset Committee for Foreign Workers, and a member of the Foreign Affairsand Defense Committee, Labor and Welfare, State Control, Economics and Knesset Committees.

In March 2001, Yuri Stern was appointed Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

Stern has published articles in the Wall Street Journal, Jerusalem Post, and Ma'ariv, and numerous articles and chapters in books on economics in the USSR (1970-1981).

He is married and has two children.