Geoffrey Pyatt is one of the longest serving US ambassadors to Athens – his fifth anniversary is on 19 May – and his tenure has coincided with some of the more difficult moments in recent history from the country’s economic precariousness to Greek-Turkish tensions last summer that brought the two countries to the brink of a military clash at sea.
In a full-length interview with Marianna Kakaounakis at the annual Delphi Forum, Pyatt stressed the Biden administration’s intention to deepen bilateral strategic ties and that a visit by PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Washington is on the cards, though at some as yet undetermined point in the future.
Kathimerini
May 10, 2021
Ms. Kakaounaki: Ambassador Pyatt, welcome to your fifth Delphi Economic Forum, although unfortunately we’re not in Delphi. You’ve said numerous times that Greece has changed a lot since you first arrived. Did you expect this? And what has surprised you the moist?
Ambassador Pyatt: I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t an optimist. And I did something very interesting today. Before we had this conversation I went back and watched my conversation with Alexis Papahelas in 2017. My first Delphi. He asked me a similar question. And one of the points I made to him then was that I was impressed by the resilience, which even in those difficult days one could see in the Greek economy and the prospects and sectors like technology, like energy. It’s enormously encouraging that here we are four years later, almost five, and there’s been real progress registered.
Port of Alexandroupoli
Delivered (podium)
Kalimera sas. I want to start by thanking my friend, Defense Minister Panagiotopoulos, for coming up to Alexandroupoli today for this event. But also to reflect, as we were discussing on the aircraft flying up this morning, on the spectacular progress that we have achieved in our defense relationship since the Minister and I first came to Alexandroupoli together in September of 2019, around the removal of the sunken dredger Olga. I think we should all be enormously proud of what we have accomplished together here in Alexandroupoli and the transformative strategic impact of the work that we’ve done together. So thank you, Minister, for just being a fantastic partner and ally in this effort.
Aeroservices, Megara Civil Airport
Delivered (podium)
Let me start by saying what a great pleasure to join General Floros, Admiral Petrakis, and the rest of the team here today to mark the delivery of the first maintained S-70B helicopter from Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems and Aeroservices.
It’s incredibly exciting to get this Hellenic Navy helicopter back in the air, and I want to congratulate the whole team of professionals at Aeroservices for their achievement.
For 200 years, the United States and Greece have stood shoulder-to-shoulder to promote peace and stability in this region.
Today, our defense and security relationship is one of the strongest in Europe with the updated Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement, increased joint exercises like Iniochios and DEFENDER-Europe 21 in Alexandroupoli tomorrow, and close collaboration as Greece modernizes its forces and its equipment after a decade of economic crisis.
Ambassador Pyatt s Op-Ed on the U S -Greece Defense Relationship | U S Embassy & Consulate in Greece usembassy.gov - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from usembassy.gov Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.