The Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Giannis Kefalogiannis, He met today, Thursday (19/7), with the Minister under the Minister of State and France Minister François-Noël Buffet, in Paris.
The meeting was an important step in boosting Greece -France bilateral cooperation in the field of Civil Protection, focusing on the prevention and management of natural disasters, especially forest fires, and the exchange of know -how and optimal practices.
During his visit, Mr. Kefalogiannis also met with Crisis Security and Crisis Manager Julien Marion, with whom they exchanged proposals and ideas to strengthen each other systems. security policy With the aim of tackling the ever -increasing challenges in addressing the consequences of the climate crisis.
The Minister presented the Greek Forest Fire Planning, which utilizes cutting -edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and unmanned aircraft (drones), while discussing important strategic cooperation issues such as operational assistance, technical cooperation and the prospects of Airbus. There was also an exchange of views on the future of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism.
An important moment of the visit was the signing of the road map, which marks a new era in the Greek -French cooperation for political protection and the treatment of climate crisis.
In addition, the Minister visited the Centre Interministériel De Crise (Centre Opérationnel de Gestion Interministérielle des Crises – Cogic), where he was informed about the structure and functioning of critical French protection infrastructures.
This visit reinforces Greece’s strategic effort to improve cooperation, exchange knowledge and develop common tools, in order to more effectively address the impact of climate crisis and natural disasters.
Mr Kefalogiannis said: “I had the joy and honor today, together with my counterpart, the Minister under the Minister of State, the Minister of the Interior of the French Republic, to sign a roadmap on civil protection issues. Among other things, we emphasize the operational assistance, the development of our cooperation on technical issues and education, as well as the participation of Greece and France at the level of European Union and the identification of views on civil protection issues.
In this context, we had the opportunity to discuss further ways of working on civil protection issues, as the two countries face common challenges due to climate change. In essence, we have taken many steps in previous years, but under the road map we are now entering a very specific course on the issues we will work with.
Mostly the changes that have taken place in recent years have made us de facto needed to see what we will change to face the challenges of natural disasters. The experiences gained in both Greece and France are useful, and we have specifically decided to deepen this collaboration at the educational and technical level, but also to mutual assistance in the event of a natural disaster. “