Israeli President Shimon Peres is to take part in a meeting with a Colombian representative next week – the pop star Shakira.

The singer will join Nobel Prize winners, politicians, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and US comedian Sarah Silverman at the annual Presidential Conference in Jerusalem.

Shakira will be at the three-day conference, which opens on June 21, in her capacity as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. She will open the event with a speech on the subject "Looking towards tomorrow".

In 1997 she founded an education charity in Colombia called the Barefoot Foundation.

The star, who has a Lebanese father and reportedly speaks some Arabic, has never performed in Israel.

In his capacity as President, Mr Peres has met celebrities from Leonardo diCaprio to Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol.