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”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 withMr. 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.
