N. DENDIAS: Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to wish you a happy new year from myself and the Alternate Minister, Mr. Varvitsiotis, and the deputy ministers, Mr. Fragogiannis and Mr. Vlasis. We wish you health, success for you and your families, to each of you individually.
I’d also like to thank the Alternate Minister and the Deputy Ministers for our close cooperation and joint effort. The same goes for the Secretaries General and the civil service leadership of the Ministry.
Allow me to take this opportunity to welcome the employees of the Ministry of Development and the Ministry of Digital Governance who are being incorporated into our Ministry. A warm welcome to all of you.
But first and foremost, I would like to thank all of the employees of all the branches of the Ministry for their collaboration and personal contribution to the daily work of Greek Diplomacy.
I am well aware that the Central and Foreign Services are called upon to carry out their mission with minimal means, limited personnel, working under special conditions that are often very difficult.
As we all know, our country is facing a large number of challenges in the Mediterranean space and in general. We are being called upon to do our duty, defending the national interest with patriotism and sobriety.
I know how weighty this task is, but we intend to achieve our goal. In this direction, we are creating a new Ministry through the new Statute, the drawing up of which is in the final stage.
We have also chosen to create a new reality in our country’s foreign relations after the ten years of the crisis that necessarily led to extensive introversion.
In this context, we are enhancing our role in our neighbourhood, in the Balkans, with intensive efforts in support of the accession perspective of the Western Balkans, under conditionality of course, as you all well know. We are strengthening our bilateral relations with the countries participating in European developments and the European Union.
We are creating a broad network of understanding in the Mediterranean, including North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. We are deepening our relations with the superpower, with the U.S., reviving our relations with Russia, further developing our economic cooperation with China. We are maintaining close contact with the International Organizations and with the members of the UN Security Council.
Of course, achieving all of these goals requires the active participation and presence of all of the Ministry’s personnel.
I would like to express my warm thanks to you for participating in this effort. I would also like to say that I and the Ministry’s political leadership as a whole look forward to the free expression of your views. This is our great capital.
And again, my heartfelt best wishes for the new year. Thank you very much.
February 7, 2020