The Minister of National Defense Mr. Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos attended yesterday, Monday, November 28, 2022, at the ceremony organized by the Athens Chamber of Commerce for the awarding of Sustainable Innovation & Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards, at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center.

After the business awards, Mr. Panagiotopoulos together with the President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce Mr. Ioannis Hatzitheodosiou awarded a special honorary award to the Chief of the General Staff (I) Themistocles Bourolia for the Air Force’s contribution to society.

The ceremony was also attended by Ministers, MPs and representatives of parties and the Local Government. Also present were representatives of business groups, presidents and board members of chambers, as well as organizations and social partners.

In his brief greeting, the Minister of National Defense pointed out:

“Ladies and gentlemen,

I would first like to thank the President of the Professional Chamber of Athens for the pleasure and honor he gave me to award here today, in the context of this event, an excellent Greek officer and worthy Chief of the Air Force, Mr. Bourolias. At the same time, I would like to underline that this award, in his person, reflects on the entire executive potential of the Armed Forces, certainly the Air Force, for what they do.

Because in difficult times, full of geopolitical tensions, successive crises, uncertainties and insecurities, certainly the good of security acquires added value. Securing this good is a very difficult task, just as entrepreneurship is a difficult task in these times. You know better than I do. The Supply Chain and its problems, the problem of the instability of the infrastructure, the fluctuation of the prices of raw materials, are a difficult task for entrepreneurship, but the existence of this feeling of security is a prerequisite even for the operation of the business in difficult times. A condition, I would say, for the free existence of this same economic activity and of course the extroversion that is necessary in business.

So this is where the Armed Forces come into the equation. It is the factor that ensures this good. And for the Air Force especially, I think in these difficult times things have gone very well and are going from good to better. Within three years or so, the Air Force has ensured seamless support, maintenance and upgrading of the assets it already has. He proceeded to acquire new aircraft and indeed at a very fast pace, unusually fast at least for Greek and not only data with the “Rafale” that are being received these days, they are coming and added to the availability of the fleet. In fact, he also secured the future of Icarian education by creating a state-of-the-art education center in Kalamata and in fact through a strategic agreement with Israel. Finally, it entered the fifth generation aircraft, with the entry of the country into the acquisition program, in the future, of the F-35 aircraft. So things went well for the Air Force.

The Air Force really deserves to be held to its standards, its level, as one of the best Air Forces in the world, and the people who accomplish this mission, this job, are truly worthy of praise and congratulations. Our job as the Political Leadership of the Ministry is simply to ensure the conditions for these people to do their job well. That and nothing else. That’s why we’ve been doing it at quite an intensive rate but also with measurable results – I believe, in difficult times – for three years now.

So congratulations to the Air Force. Mr. Chief, you, on behalf of all the executives of the Air Force and the other Branches of the Armed Forces – because things were and are being done for those executives as well – you are worthy of congratulations. You ensure the deterrent power of the country, you make Greek men and women feel safe and proud of course.

So, Mr. Chief, continue to cover, as I like to say, with your “wings” and your weapons the Aegean, the entire Territory, Greece, so that we too enjoy the good of security, but also that entrepreneurship can do integrally her job.

Congratulations to you, congratulations to all the awardees.

Thank you”.