Last Thursday,
Thursday, January 25, the
Institute of Energy for SE Europe (IENE), jointly with the Energy Policy and
Development Centre (KEPA) of the University of Athens, successfully organized an
afternoon colloquium on
"Energy and Geopolitical Challenges in the East
Mediterranean and MENA and the Role of Greece”. The colloquium took place
at the Kostis Palamas Building of the University of Athens, with some of the
most eminent academics in the field of International Relations as well as
energy professionals from Greece and Cyprus among its speakers.
This highly topical event opened with welcome and
introductory remarks by
Prof. Dimitris Mavrakis
(Director, KEPA)
, Mr. John Chadjivassiliades (Chairman, ΙΕΝΕ) and
Mr. Christos Dimas (Chairman
of the Geopolitics Committee and Member of ΙΕΝΕ’s BoD, Honorary Chairman of the
Hellenic-Russian Chamber of Commerce).
This event is a further proof that Geopolitics is now included
among the Institute’s main study areas, as the interconnection of this field
with Energy has established a strong interaction. Thus, IENE ever since its
foundation has not only been monitoring and analyzing geopolitical developments
but it has, also, from time to time, organized several events and conferences
on Geopolitics, as well as a special postgraduate introductory course on Energy
and Geopolitics in 2015. Moreover, IENE’s Geopolitics Committee publishes an
English–language bulletin, disseminated on a regular basis to the Institute’s
members.
The Colloquium’s first session focused on the latest
energy developments and geopolitical trends in "Greece, East
Mediterranean, Turkey, Cyprus” and "Greece-MENA-Caspia”, moderated by Mr.
Dimas.
H.E. Ambassador (a.h.) Eleftherios Karagiannis,
Prof.
Angelos Syrigos(Αssistant Professor, Department of International,
European and Area Studies, Panteion University of Social and Political
Sciences),
Mr. Spyros Paleogiannis(Managing Director, Medgas
and More Ltd., Member of the BoD, ΙΕΝΕ),
Dr. Dinos Nikolaou(Technical
Advisor, Energean Oil & Gas, Member of the BoD, ΙΕΝΕ) participated as
speakers in this session. A Roundtable Discussion with the participation
of the above and
Mr. Stamatis Koutsoukos (Chemical
Engineer,AsprofosProcess/HSE Coordinator) followed.
The second session of the afternoon colloquium
highlighted the geopolitical dimension of the latest energy developments in the
Greece-MENA-Caspia triangle.
Mr. George Kapopoulos
(Journalist, Analyst),
Dr. Saleh Jallad(Publisher
of the well-known MEEES journal and Chairman of the Petroleum and Energy
Publications, Cyprus),
Dr. Evangelos Venetis(Ιslam and Middle
East Expert, Head of Middle East Research Programme, Hellenic Foundation for
European and Foreign Policy),
Dr. Marika Karagianni(Black Sea
Countries Dpt., Democritus University of Thrace) and
Mr. Dimitrios Mezartasoglou
(Head of Research, IENE) were the speakers of this session who subsequently
participated in a Roundtable Discussion. Prof. Dimitris Mavrakiswas the
co-ordinator of this session.
This highly topical event closed with
Mr.
Costis Stambolis(Executive Director, ΙΕΝΕ) contributing the
concluding remarks.
Greece’s
Public
Power Corporation (DEPA) S.A. and
Consolidated Contractors Company (
CCC)
were the sponsors of this afternoon colloquium,
were as Greece’s leading energy portal,
Energia.Gr, was the event’s
media partner.