The proceedings of the International High Level Conference on: “Sustainable Development and Regional Integration in the Mediterranean within the Current Context of Security Challenges and Threats”, organised by the General Directorate of National Defence Policy and International Relations of the Ministry of National Defence were completed with success.
The event took place from 21 to 24 February 2023, at the Auditorium “Lieutenant (HAF) Nikolaos Sialmas” of the Hellenic Air Force Academy in Tatoi, with the participation of Ambassadors and senior officials from the Mediterranean countries, International Organisations, as well as of high ranking officials from the Armed Forces and the wider public sector.
The aim of the conference was to address sustainable development and regional integration in the Mediterranean region, under the existing framework of challenges and threats to international security. In addition, the impact of these challenges and threats on the wider geopolitical environment of the Mediterranean, particularly on the national security of our country was analysed and holistic strategies were presented to address them.
The thematic sessions of the Conference were:
• The Mediterranean through the Centuries (historical evolution, strategic analysis, impact).
• Challenges, Threats and Opportunities in the Mediterranean Region.
• Ongoing Conflicts and Disputes.
• Security Trends in the Mediterranean Region.
• Hybrid Threats in the Mediterranean Region.
• The Role of International Organisations in the Mediterranean Region.
• Cooperation and Defence Industry in the Mediterranean Region.
• Crisis Management Mechanisms in the Mediterranean Region.
• National Resilience — Resistance.
• Greece as a Key Player in the Mediterranean Geopolitical Environment.
On the first day of the International Conference, the Deputy Minister of National Defence Mr Nikolaos Chardalias launched the conference, while welcome speeches were addressed by the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, Mr Ioannis Plakiotakis, the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus Mr Charalambos Petridis, the Secretary General of the Ministry of National Defence Mr Antonios Economou, the Deputy Chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff, Vice-Admiral Mr. Frangkiskos Leloudas, on behalf of the Chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff, and by the Director General of National Defence Policy and International Relations, Dr. Konstantinos Balomenos.
As Keynote speakers, participated:
• The President of Greek National Tourism Organization, Ms Angela Gerekou,
• The Ambassador of France to Greece Mr Patrick Maisonnave,
• The Deputy Minister for Citizen Protection, Mr Eleftherios Economou,
• The Commander of the Indian Defence School, Admiral Sanjay Datt,
• The Ambassador of the Republic of Ukraine to Greece Mr Sergii Shutenko,
• The Ambassador of Canada, Ms Anna-Karine Asselin.
• The Commissioner to the EU, former Minister of National Defence and Foreign Affairs, Mr Dimitrios Avramopoulos.
During the thematic sessions, lectures were addressed by:
• The Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Mr Christos Stylianides.
• The Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum, Ms Sofia Voultepsi.
• The Deputy Minister of Education, Mr Angelos Syrigos.
• The Director General of European Union Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Leonidas Rokanas.
• The Secretary General of the Hellenic Parliament Foundation and Professor of History & Archaeology at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Dr. Evanthis Chatzivassiliou.
• The Secretary General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Ioannis Chrysoulakis.
• The Director General of Development and Humanitarian Aid of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vice Admiral Alexandros Diakopoulos.
• The Data Protection Officer of the Ministry of Digital Governance, Mr Athanasios Kosmopoulos.
• The Diplomacy Advisor to the Ministry of Defence of Cyprus, Mr Andreas Iliadis.
• The Ambassador of Egypt, Mr Omar Amer Youssef.
• The Ambassador of the United Kingdom, Mr Matthew James Lodge.
• The Ambassador of Germany, Dr Ernst Reichel.
• The Ambassador of the State of Israel, Mr Noam Katz.
• Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia, Mr Aleksandar Sunko.
• The Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Ms Elisabeth Cardoso.
• The Ambassador of People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Mr Mahieddine Djeffal.
• On behalf of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco, the Deputy Head of Mission, Ms Atika Karom.
• The Director General of Defence Policy of the Ministry of Defence of Italy, Rear Admiral (UH) Gianfranco Annunziata.
• The Director General of Defence Policy of the Slovenian Ministry of Defence, Mr Boštjan Pavlin.
• The Deputy Director General of Defence Policy of the Spanish Ministry of Defence, Rear Admiral Juan Bautista Pérez Puig.
• The Director General of Defence Policy of the Portuguese Ministry of Defence, Brigadier General Nuno Lemos Pires.
• The Director General of the Maltese Defence Directorate, Ms Carmen Buttigieg,
• The NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Policy and Planning, Mr Angus Lapsley.
• On behalf of the Ambassador of Portugal, from the Portuguese Institute of National Defence, Dr José Pedro Texeira Fernandes.
• The Professor of Strategy at the University of Piraeus, Dr. Athanasios Platias.
• The Dean of the College of Security and Global Studies, American University in the Emirates, Dr Chahine Ghais.
• The Former Minister of National Defence and Honorary Chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff, Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis.
• The Head of Unit E.2 (Space, Security and Connectivity Technologies), Deputy Director of Directorate E (Space, Security and Migration, Joint Research Centre), of the European Commission, Mr Georgios Giannopoulos.
• The Deputy Director of Security and Defence Policy and Head of the Partnership and Task Force Division of NATO’s European External Action Service, Dr Alison Weston.
• The Chairman of the Greek Association of Defence and Security Material Manufacturers (SEKPY), Mr Anastasios Rozolis.
• The Director General of Hellenic Defence Systems (HDS), Nikolaos Kostopoulos.
• The Director of NATO’s Centre of Excellence for Crisis Management and Disaster Response, Colonel Orlin Nikolov.
• The Lecturer at the Department of Political Science of the University of Crete, Dr. Maria Vlachadi.
• The President of Armaz — Bagira Group (Israel), General Arie Mizrachi.
• The Deputy Head of the European Security and Defence College, Ms Maria Grazia Romano.
• The Head of the Metis Institute, Lecturer at Bundeswehr University Munich, Dr Konstantinos Tsetsos.
• The Ambassador (hon.), Mr Alexandros Mallias.
In addition, the Conference was attended by:
• The Ambassador of Libya, Mr Hamad Bashir Al-Mabrouk Bousayf.
• The Deputy Ambassador of Syria, Mr Roua Shurbaji.
• The Ambassador of the Czech Republic, Ms Martina Petrovicova.
• The Ambassador of Albania, Ms Luela Hajdaraga.
• The Deputy Ambassador of Finland, Mr Jari Gustafsson.
Coordinators of the 10 thematic modules were the following:
• Lieutenant General (ret) Stavros Koutris,
• Lieutenant General (ret) Ioannis Baltzois, President of ELISME,
• Lieutenant General (ret) Hippocrates Daskalakis,
• Dr. Georgios Kaffes, Professor at the Hellenic Army Academy,
• Dr. Elias Tempelis, Professor at Hellenic Naval Academy,
• Dr Ioanna Lekea, Lecturer at the Department of Aviation Sciences,
• Mr Dimitrios Thomas, Journalist,
• Mr Dimitrios Apokis, Journalist,
• Ms Evangelia Palla, Historian at the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation.
The conference’s proceedings were attended on a daily basis by an average of 178 Greek and foreign participants with physical presence, and additionally, by 206 attendees via a digital platform. Out of the 42 countries invited to attend the conference, 30 attended with their ambassadors or high-level officials.
Foreign participants came from Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Croatia, Egypt, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Libya, Luxembourg, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, United Kingdom and Ukraine.
In addition, a large delegation of the College of Defence Management of India participated in the conference.
Before the beginning of the Conference, a minute of silence was observed for the victims of the deadly earthquake in Türkiye and Syria.
Finally, an important moment for the Conference was the award by the Director General of National Defence Policy and International Relations, Dr. Konstantinos Balomenos, and the former Commissioner of Greece to the EU and former Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Defence, Dimitrios Avramopoulos, of the national benefactor Rear Admiral (hon.), President of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, Mr Panagiotis Laskaridis, for his services to the Hellenic Navy and the Armed Forces.
