unique event which covered comprehensively the growing relations on energy security and sustainability between the UK and Greece was successfully held in London from October 15 to 17. The Symposium brought together some top speakers and commentators from government, industry, and stake holders from the two countriesA unique event which covered comprehensively the growing relations on energy security and sustainability between the UK and Greece was successfully held in London from October 15 to 17. The Symposium brought together some top speakers and commentators from government, industry, and stake holders from the two countries. The Symposium was hosted at the London premises of the Allan and Overy legal firm while events took place at the Greek Embassy and at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office where the official dinner was hosted in the Locarno Suite.
The Symposium opened with welcome addresses by Costas Mitropoulos, Co-Chair of the Symposium, followed by HE Matthew Lodge, His Majesty’s Ambassador to Greece and by HE Yiannis Tsaousis, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to the UK. Symeon Tsomokos, chairman of the Delphi Economic Forum contributed the Introduction to the Symposium.
The opening plenary included keynote speeches by Nikos Dendias, Greece’s Minister of National Defense and by the Rt.Hon.Graham Stuart, MP, UK’s Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The panel on the Changing Energy Landscape which followed, was expertly moderated by John Roberts, Energy Security Specialist and panelists included Dev Sanyal, CEO of Varo Energy, Marianthi Stavrinou, Country He’d of BP in Greece, Rikard Scoufias, chairman of the Hellenic Hydrocarbon & EnergybReslirces Management Company and Rob Turner, Partner and Head of Energy at PWC in the UK.
The Energy Security and Geopolitics panel, which was moderated by journalist Alexia Tasouli, included statements by ex ambassador Konstantinos Bikas, from the Mytilineos group, Yiannis Maniatis, ex Minister of Energy and currently professor at the University of Piraeus, Sophie Westlake, Deputy Director and head of the international Energy Unit at the UK Department of Energy, Paddy Blewer, head of corporate communications at Energean while an intervention was made by George Katrouglos, professor of Public Law and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece.
Other panels covered the areas of sustainability and technology with speakers which included Maria Damanaki, independent energy advisor and former EU Commissioner for Maritime and Fisheries and Tim Yeo, former Minister of State for the Countryside and Environment and currently chairman of the World New Nuclear Institute. Another session focused on Cooperation Opportunities in Energy and the Environment which was moderated by Nikos Malkoutzis,editor and founder of MacroPolis.
Costis Stambolis, the Chairman and Executive of the IENE actively participated in this last session and contributed a historical perspective on the UK- Greece cooperation in the energy sector in the post war period while he identified a number of areas where cooperation is currently developing between UK and Greek companies and organisations. “Digitilisation, energy market development and new technologies are the three sectors which are attracting most interest and hold promise for further cooperation and development”, concluded Stambolis.
