EU Arab World Summit
With great success and the participation of more than 500 officials, representatives of the political, business and diplomatic community, the EU Arab Summit: Partners for Growth and Development took place at the Megaron Concert Hall in Athens, Greece on 3 and 4 November 2016. This two-day event was organized under the auspices of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, and supported by H.E. the Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras and the Greek government. The initiative for this high-level summit belongs to CCC, participating as a strategic sponsor, and was organized by the Delphi Economic Forum and the Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group.
The owners of CCC felt the moral obligation to support Greece during the continuous economic crisis so as to boost markets and attract investments, thus promoting Greece’s significant role between European and Arab countries. Therefore, an entity was created in order to plan, organize and realize this promising vision and consisted of people who worked very hard for a period of more than eight months in order to accomplish this special project. This timely summit succeeded in promoting dialogue between the European Union and Arab countries whilst showcasing the opportunities for enhancing collaboration and sustainable growth on business and economic levels. Regarding Greece, the main purpose was to emphasize and promote specific projects and investment opportunities for the country. Special presentations were made by the International Economic Relations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Similar presentations were also made by Enterprise Greece, the official agency of the Greek State, the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, TAIPED (Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund), the Ministry of Public Work and by various organizations. These agencies had their own promotional stands during the summit in order to exhibit their work and inform the participants. CCC Executive Vice Chairman and Chairman of Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group, Tawfic Khoury (who personally made great efforts in order for the summit to take place) opened the proceedings being followed by the Greek Prime Minister and other European and Arab officials. The summit acted as an important platform for officials and representatives of the highest levels (both from the EU and the Arab countries) to advance shared projects, experiences and knowledge between the two regions.
The agenda of the summit covered two big sectors: the economy (focusing on investments, energy, infrastructure and trade) and the political sector (where discussions about major issues, such as security, immigration and political stability took place). The Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, delivered the opening speech of the summit while members of the Hellenic Government addressed the event, along with Arab government officials, presidents and ministers, the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos; the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides and many other officials.
The EU Arab World Summit was widely covered by local and international media including TV networks, print and web media. More than 100 articles have been published in print media while the event was announced in more than 1,800web news items. In conclusion, it was a highly successful summit which signified the need for these types of initiatives. Additionally, CCC achieved its goal in promoting Greece’s will for development and investment opportunities whilst highlighting the key role of the country as a connecting factor between the European and Arab world. It should be mentioned that by the end of the EU Arab World Summit, everyone had a good word about the success of this event, focusing on the excellence of the organization, the high-level of participants and the fruitful results of this important summit, whilst looking forward to the next EU Arab World Summit.