PRESS RELEASE MARCH 2024
The winter season that we have just left behind, November 2023 to March 2024, has been very hectic in our director’s international activities. Below is the list of in-person participations in international fora.
November 2023
Dr. Yiorghos Leventis took part, upon invitation, in the 7th Southeast Europe Energy Forum, held in The MET Hotel, Thessaloniki, Greece on Tuesday, the 7th of November. The day conference concentrated on the synergies in energy cooperation between the Balkan countries. Bulgaria had a three speakers line up whereas Albania was represented by the Greek speaking head of the country’s Electricity Authority.
On the culture – performing arts dimension, Dr. Leventis took advantage of his presence in Thessaloniki to watch and peruse films at the 64th Thessaloniki Film Festival. The occasion gave him the opportunity to interview in private the legendary Greek film director Nikos Perrakis.
December 2023
December (3rd and 4th) saw Dr. Leventis travelling to Brussels, the EU capital. He was a delegate, the only one from either Cyprus or Greece, in the EU Non-Proliferation & Disarmament Conference held over two days in the THON Hotel Brussels City Centre. Save for a South African speaker presence from Pretoria, the rest of the speakers concentrated on the Euro-Atlantic perspective on the current dire global geopolitical situation.
March 2024
On Friday, March the 8th, Dr. Yiorghos Leventis gave a seminar at the Institute for National & International Security, INIS, in The theme of the seminar was the following:
The Status and Role of the British Bases in Cyprus and the Diego Garcia Base – Chagos Archipelago, St Mauritius: A Comparative Perspective
The audience of young researchers from Czechia, spending an internship at INIS, Belgrade, showed great interest in the subject of the use of the geo-strategic location of Cyprus by Great Powers. The lively discussion followed a lunch offered by the INIS Director.
Finally, on the 12th and 13th of March 2024, Dr. Leventis travelled to Budapest for the Budapest Balkans Forum https://budapestbalkansforum.hu/. The BBF has been extremely successful, attended by 700 delegates from the diplomacy, academy and the press world. As it usually happens, the International Security Forum’s Director was the only Cypriot presence in the conference. Furthermore, Dr. Leventis was joined at the two-day conference participation by Mr. Ion Craciunel, ISF Senior Research Associate and a seasoned expert in international affairs. The two-member ISF Cyprus delegation held a number of fruitful consultations at the margins of the conference and pledged to participate in the follow-up review BBF to be held in the Western Balkans during the forthcoming Hungarian presidency of the EU Council in the second half of the year.