LOS ANGELES, CA – For the first time in many years the Greek community in Los Angeles had the opportunity to welcome the Ambassador of Greece to the United States.
Amb.Haris Lalacos and his wife, Anna, during their visit in Los Angeles attended a community celebration at St. Sophia Cathedral and he made a presentation at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy (USCCPD) about Greece’s efforts to reenter the international financial community and its role as a pillar of stability in the turbulent Mediterranean region.
The CPD is a research, analysis, and professional educational organization dedicated to study and practice global public engagement and cultural relations, which in 2008 received the Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy from the U.S. State Department.
USC President C.L. Max Nikias in his welcoming remarks mentioned that the EU did not act as a partner to Greece in the financial crisis and that the EU organization should act and operate more like the government of the United States. President Nikias referred to Alexander Hamilton’s belief in a strong central government,who argued successfully that the implied powers of the Constitution provided the legal authority to fund the national debt and assume state’s debt by creating the government backed Bank of the United States.
Amb. Lalacos began his presentation by saying that Greece and the United States have a lot in common starting with the fact that “Modern Greece and America were created after revolutions against empires and have maintained democratic governments.” He said that the Greek economy,due to its government’s financial policies, had brought stability and a renewed confidence to foreign investors who are starting to see Greece as a potential prospect for investments. He noted that unemployment has been reduced to 21% today from 28% in 2013 and the deficit has been controlled. Greece is also attractive to foreign investors because “we have an educated and skilled workforce, each generation better educated than the previous one. But the crisis has forced our young scientists to migrate and only investment can bring them back.”
Notably, the United States for the first time, this year, will be the Honored Country at the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF).
The U.S. Pavilion will highlight technology, innovation, and the new economy as giant of American corporations such as Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Google, Cisco, and Lockheed Martin will participate at the fair.
This can be beneficial in multiple ways as the American companies can explore expansion of their financial relations with the region of Northern Greece and it will highlight Greece’s strategic role as a hub in transports and energy pipelines. A fact that may surprise many people is that “Greek investments in the United States are double the American investments made in Greece. We definitely have to reverse that trend,”Lalacos pointed out.
With a degree in international relations at the School of Advanced International Studies from Johns Hopkins, Lalacos joined the Hellenic Foreign Service in 1986.
He spoke in Los Angeles about the two issues currently dominating Greece’s foreign policy: Turkish aggression in the Aegean and the issue of a new name for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
He regarded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent visit to Greece, Lalacos said it was a “calculated risk. Not a smooth visit but it was better than none. Greece showed that it is committed to dialogue.”
The negotiations for the new name of FYROM have been met with a very vocal opposition from the majority of the Greek people, who do not want the name Macedonia to be part of the country’s new name, as the massive demonstrations inside and outside of Greece have shown. Lalacos said that “agreements in negotiations are achieved by compromises; neither country can get everything they are seeking,” and Greece having one of the few stable democratic systems of governance in the region could play a role of stability. The recent military exercises involving Greece, Italy, Israel, Cyprus, and the United Emirates signals Greece’s increasing role in the region.
Lalacos reiterated Greece’s commitment to Cyprus’ continued campaign for total withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island and for religious pluralism in the Middle East. The Ambassador and his wife were well received by community; he was impressed their vibrancy and success, and he is expected to return.
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