On Thursday, November 21, 2024, H.E. Ambassador Constantin-Mihail Grigorie, RACVIAC Director received the Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to the Republic of Croatia, H.E. Athanassios Paressoglou, on his inaugural visit.
A presentation on RACVIAC history, Programme 2024 and 2025, past cooperation with Greece, and possible areas for expanding future cooperation were tackled during the visit. Also, methods to strengthen cooperation between RACVIAC and Greece were explored.
Ambassador Grigorie expressed gratitude to Greece for its unwavering support as a founding Member of RACVIAC, especially in terms of financial support to its Operating expenses (budget), the regular secondment of skilled military officers and experts, and active participation in RACVIAC activities. RACVIAC Director also highlighted Greece’s leadership of the Multinational Advisory Group (MAG) during 2018/2019.
Special recognition of Greek personnel whose leadership and expertise have been instrumental in advancing RACVIAC objectives was made. Brigadier General Stergios Papotis, RACVIAC Director from 2004 to 2007, was commended for his pivotal role in RACVIAC transformation into a hub for regional security cooperation. Similarly, Colonel Dimitrios Biris’ impactful work within Security Sector Governance (SSG) Pillar was acknowledged, further reinforcing RACVIAC mission. Ambassador Grigorie emphasized the importance of Greece’s continued representation in RACVIAC, advocating a re-secondment of a Greek representative.
The Ambassador also highlighted Greece’s leadership of the Multinational Advisory Group (MAG) in 2018/2019, extending appreciation to Ambassador Eleftherios Anghelopoulos for his exemplary role as the Chairperson in the said period.
RACVIAC Director briefed the Greek delegation on RACVIAC upcoming initiative for 2025, the “Conference on Resilience and Protection of Critical Infrastructure”. Greece’s expertise in resilience and critical infrastructure protection has been noted as invaluable to these efforts, and Greece was, therefore, invited to take an active role in this key event.
Ambassador Grigorie reaffirmed the importance of cooperation between RACVIAC and Greece and thanked Greece for its consistent partnership. He also emphasized RACVIAC commitment to enhancing this partnership further.
Ambassador Paressoglou expressed gratitude to Ambassador Grigorie for the hospitality and emphasized the significance of RACVIAC in promoting security and dialogue in the region, highlighting its distinctiveness in bringing together parties committed to transparent collaboration on various security issues.
The Hellenic Ambassador confirmed that his country will continue contributing to RACVIAC mission of fostering dialogue in the region and that it will invest efforts to keep on seconding personnel to RACVIAC.
H.E. Ambassador Paressoglou and H.E. Ambassador Grigorie both expressed their commitment to continue expanding the already very fruitful cooperation between RACVIAC and Greece on areas and topics mutually beneficial for all RACVIAC Members with the aim of promoting security cooperation and dialogue in the region.
