The Diplomat
The Greek Ambassador to Spain, Ilias Fotopoulos, yesterday hosted a reception at his residence in which he assured that if Greece is elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2025-2026 biennium, it will promote the peaceful resolution of conflicts and respect for international law.
The reception, held on the occasion of Greek National Day and Greek Armed Forces Day, was attended by most of the European ambassadors as well as ambassadors from other parts of the world, together with former Spanish ambassadors in Athens and representatives of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of business and cultural sectors.
The Ambassador recalled that 25 March 1821 was a decisive day for the creation of the modern Greek State and underlined that, after going through difficult circumstances, it is today an independent and sovereign country, a member of the EU and NATO.
After referring to the changes experienced in the world in the first decades of the 21st century, Ilias Fotopoulos referred to the increasing number of armed conflicts, intensifying social inequalities and uncertainty and leading society, he said, “to look for ways out in ideological schemes that seek to limit speech and freedoms”.
The ambassador considered that the response to this “dangerous instability” should be “both the peaceful resolution of differences, respect for the principles of international law, and dialogue to achieve order in the world and well-being in society”.
In this sense, Fotopoulos pointed out that if Greece is elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, “it undertakes to promote policies whose priorities will be the peaceful resolution of differences, respect for international law and the rules and principles of the United Nations Charter, Women Peace and Security, climate change and security, maritime security and children in armed conflicts”.
With regard to bilateral relations with Spain, which will be 190 years old in 2024, he stressed that the bonds of friendship between the two countries are on an upward trajectory, while transactions are increasing. In this way, he pointed out that trade and economic relations, as well as the investment activity of Spanish companies in Greece, are on a constant upward trend”.
I believe,” he concluded, “that these relations are the only way forward and contribute positively to the formation of a common European vision of unification of all the countries in the geographical region of Europe.
