Ambassador,
Dr Kittmer,
Professor Beaton, my dear colleague,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to be among you here today to celebrate the anglo-hellenic friendship event.
We all know that our friendship is more than two hundred years old.
And as I am standing under this very famous painting, allow me, first of all, to express my deep admiration for Lord Byron, a philhellene who came and fought in Greece and also died in Greece; died for the cause of the Greek freedom. Greece will never and can never forget that.
But, we share many more things together. We are a maritime nation, and so are you.
We are the oldest democracy; you are the oldest parliamentary democracy.
We respect International Law; you respect International Law, including International Law of the Sea.
Unfortunately, I have to say that, these days, one feels awkward to speak about International Law. It feels awkward to speak about Humanitarian Law.
As you very well know, one Greek Consul, as we speak, is entrapped in a basement in Mariupol under fire. I really never ever believed that we would live in the 21st century under these circumstances.
But, anyway, we have to see the challenges clearly and work to address the challenges together.
And I think this is what we can do, we, Greece, with the United Kingdom, address the challenges of today together.
And try to build a better world.
Thank you so much.