“Greece is a guardian of free navigation worldwide,” said Deputy Foreign Minister, Deputy Foreign Minister, Tasos Hatzivasiliou, in charge of Economic Diplomacy and extroversion, speaking to ERT on Wednesday morning.
Specifically, referring to the intervention of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to the UN Security Council, he noted that he sent a clear message by reinforcing the country’s international prestige, especially in the light of our participation in missions such as ASPIDA. As he pointed out, the presence of the Prime Minister highlighted the added value of Greece as a pillar of security and stability in the wider region.
Among the basic messages conveyed by the prime minister, as Mr Hadjivasiliou said, was the underlining that the interconnection projects are peace infrastructure and must go out of prison. In addition, he made a special reference to the law of the sea (UNCLOS), noting that it is a customary law that binds all states, even those that have not validated it.
Mr Hadjivasiliou stood the importance of the Greek Presidency to the UN Security Council at an extremely critical juncture for international peace and security, recalling that Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis will chair these days in discussions on Syria and Syria.
Regarding developments in the Middle East, the Deputy Minister reiterated Greece’s position for an immediate need for a truce in Gaza, while providing humanitarian aid. As he said, Israel has an inalienable right to self -defense, but no one can identify the terrorist Hamas with the whole of the Palestinians.
Referring to Ukraine, Mr Hadjivasiliou noted that the US President’s telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart did not produce any results, but stressed that Ukraine must be supported to have a strong negotiating starting point if they were starting. He emphasized the need for the Kremlin to accept a 30 -day truce to create the conditions of a meaningful dialogue.
“To rebuild Ukraine, Greece is present,” he added, stressing that there are Greek companies with know -how and international recognition that can contribute to the country’s reconstruction, utilizing European financial tools.
Concerning EU-UPA trade, he noted that during discussions with businessmen and bankers in New York, where he was found last week, he dominated the issue of duties. He emphasized the need to exploit the 90 -day window that Donald Trump opened in order to find a mutually beneficial solution, even with zero duties. “The transatlantic commercial relationship is the largest in the world in its kind and must be safeguarded at all costs,” he said.
Finally, the deputy minister responded to a question about his criticism, on the occasion of his very brief intervention in Turkish, during the Greek -Turkish business council in Istanbul. As he explained, the labor language was English, but he spoke for about 20 seconds in Turkish to send to Turkish citizens, directly and without mediation, the message of the need for respect for the principles of good neighborly and the principles of international law.