Your Excellency, Madam President of the Republic, it is with great pleasure that we welcome you for the first time to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Your Grace, ladies and gentlemen.
It is with great emotion that we are here today for the oath-taking ceremony and the fresh beginning of the Diplomatic Academy’s 26th Class.
And also with us are the graduates of the 25th Class, who are already serving in Directorates of the Central Service and our Missions abroad and for whom the oath-taking ceremony could not be held due to the pandemic.
I would like to congratulate you all on your graduation. The 26th Class’s training began in November 2021 and lasted 9 months under unprecedented conditions: the continuation of the pandemic, the world-changing Russian invasion of Ukraine and growing threats to our national security.
As members of the Diplomatic Service, you are now called upon to defend Greece’s interests, on the solid basis of European values, International Law and the strength of our homeland’s deterrent power.
You are called upon to contribute to the formulation of an active, multifaceted foreign policy, a multi-level policy.
You represent a country that cooperates with states both in our vicinity and the wider region.
You represent a country that builds understandings and alliances based on shared values, principles and rules. Because, ladies and gentlemen, we have broadened the horizons of the policy that you are called upon to develop and serve, from Europe, the Balkans to the Gulf and the Indo-Pacific region, from Africa to the United States and Latin America.
And you will serve diplomacy not only in the narrow, traditional sense, but also in a broader sense, that includes economic, energy and public diplomacy.
We are all aware how important this broader concept of diplomacy has become in recent years.
I want to tell you that you are picking up the baton at a favourable juncture, I think. Our country has recently concluded two Agreements on the delimitation of maritime zones; it has a third Agreement in principle with Albania, following the Agreements with Egypt and Italy, which took decades to reach this point; it signed two very important Protocols for the renewal of the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States and concluded defence Agreements, to begin with the one with France, but also with the United Arab Emirates; that is a huge arsenal, followed by a total of 215 bilateral and multilateral Agreements signed in the last three years. Something that has never occurred before in Greek history.
You are the new lifeblood of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ diplomatic staff. But you will serve in a different world and hopefully in a different Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A new Ministry that is being created as a result of the administrative and digital reforms that are taking place, precisely to provide you with the essentials you need to be able to represent our country’s interests in this different world.
What remains unchanged for anyone representing Greece is the commitment to uphold the principles of International Law. This has been, is and will continue to be the pillar of our foreign policy, the reason why we seek the three positions in the United Nations – our participation in the Security Council, our participation in the Human Rights Council for the first time in our history and the Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly.
I sincerely wish you an exceptional career.
Thank you very much.