FM Dendias at Economist roundtable: ‘We are witnessing escalating aggressive rhetoric & more challenges in the field’

Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias said on Tuesday that “we are witnessing an escalating agressive rhetoric and more challenges in the field,” speaking at the 26th Annual Economist Government Roundtable that is being held in Athens on July 5-7.

At the conference, which is held under the thematic title “Antitheses, transformations & achievements in a changing world”, the Greek minister added that “until recently, a very large part of the international community considered this questioning of rules and legitimacy in our region as a regional, perhaps sometimes indifferent problem.”
But now, he noted, “the entire international community is experiencing the revival of revisionism also as a theory, and much worse as a practice, either with a modern mantle, or with a neo-Ottoman mantle.”

The Russian invasion in Ukraine “is a turning point for European security,” he pointed out.
Moreover, he said that “basic European and global principles, respect for territorial integrity, national sovereignty, and the fundamental rules of International Law, have all been turned upside down,” and that they are “no longer a given in Europe.”

He emphasized that the greatest challenge for Europe now is “to remain united, to overcome the challenges of energy and inflation (…) and to take together the decisions needed to protect its own external borders, and to continue to sanction those who violate International Law.”

Dendias also welcomed the new US Ambassador to Greece George Tsunis to the discussion panel, and he underlined “how significanct it is that the US entrusted the representation of its interests in Greece to a Greek-American.

Mike Pompeo

Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias had lunch on Tuesday with former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the margins of the 26th Annual Economist Government Roundtable, the ministry tweeted.

They had a “fruitful exchange of views on the Greece-US strategic relationship, developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and on the global implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” added the ministry.

Speaking at the conference, which is held under the thematic title “Antitheses, transformations & achievements in a changing world”, Pompeo noted that “security is a condition for prosperity, and we have currently lost it,” adding that “we are in a global environment of extremely high challenges for both the geopolitical scene and the economy.”

In reference to Greek-Turkish relations, Pompeo said that “states historically have conflicts, but it is important to solve them through dialogue, without the use of force,” and he emphasized the need to strengthen dialogue at all levels between the two sides.
Referring to Greece-US relations, he noted that the US State Department’s Athens team promotes cooperation in defense, in energy and also in other areas.

He also underlined the significance of the Greece-US strategic partnership agreement, which he said “was made out in such a way as to make sense not only militarily, but also for the energy projects that are being developed in the region, and the ability to produce energy and transport it all across Europe.”

David Harris
Also on the sidelines of the Economist conference, Dendias met with American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris, with whom they discussed developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and Ukraine following the Russian invasion, added the Greek foreign ministry.

SOURCE; ANA-MPA