The Arab – Hellenic Chamber convened its flagship event, the 10th Arab – Hellenic Economic Forum, on December 7th & 8th at the Divani Caravel Hotel of Athens in a hybrid format, with physical and online presence, with the participation of businessmen from Greece and 16 Arab countries.
Rashad Mabger, the Secretary General, introduced Harris Geronikolas, the President of the Arab-Hellenic Chamber, and Suheil H. Sabbagh, the President, Group HR, CCC, Vice President of AHCCD and Honorary President, Palestinian Greek Friendship & Cooperation Association, who, in turn, delivered their welcoming addresses. Afterwards, Prof. Dr. Khaled Hanafy, the Secretary General of Union of Arab Chambers, Lebanon and B.D. Member of Arab Hellenic Chamber, delivered the welcoming speech on behalf of the President of the Union of Arab Chambers. Then, the Guest of Honor, Adonis Georgiadis, the Greek Minister of Development and Investment, delivered his speech appraising the Arab-Hellenic relations.
The five sessions that followed dealt with a topic of interest for the Greek and Arab sides, ranging from climate change and renewable energy, recent developments in the maritime, port industries and logistics, construction and infrastructure, transfer of technology in agriculture and food processing industry, to tourism and real estate Investment. The sessions opened with special introductions by Ministers, high-level personalities and government officials, namely Giorgos Amiras, Deputy Minister of Environment & Energy of Greece, Eng. Gaber Desouki Mostafa Ebrahim, Chairman of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company, Giannis Plakiotakis, the Minister of Maritime & Insular Policy of Greece, Dr. Khaled A. Mahdi, Secretary General, General Secretariat Supreme Council Planning & Development of Kuwait, George Filiopoulos, CEO of Enterprise Greece, Hisham Mohammad Kaaki, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Federation of Saudi Chambers and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Walid Raphael Nassar, Lebanese Minister of Tourism and Vassilis Kikilias, Greek Minister of Tourism. Special presentation was delivered by Konstantinos Ouzounis, Founder & CEO of Founder & CEO, LiveOn, as well as a special introduction by Abdulaziz Al-Mikhlafi, Secretary General of Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GHORFA) & Coordinator General of Arab – Foreign Joint Chambers, who elaborated on the role of these Chambers across Europe and the world and their efforts in enhancing the relations between the Arab world and the hosting countries of these Chambers.
This year, the program of the Forum incorporated the 3rd annual “Meet the Arab Ambassadors” Roundtable Discussion, a platform of open discussion with the Greek CEO’s for the exploration of business and investment opportunities as described directly by all the Arab Ambassadors, Chargés d’Affaires and Counsellors accredited to Greece. The discussion was introduced and moderated by Rashad Mabger. The opening remarks were delivered by the Guest of Honor, Nikos Papathanasis, Greek Alternate Minister of Development and Investment, who referred to the Government’s success in economic reforms and its efforts for closer Arab-Greek relations in all domains. The moderator then introduced the Ambassadors, Esmahan Abdulhamid Al-Toki, Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen, accredited to Italy & Greece (non-resident), Ahed Ali Sweidat, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ismail Khairat, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Sulaiman Hamid Almazroui, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Dr. Saad Alammar, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mouayed Saleh, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq, Waleed Bin Mohammed Al-Emadi, Ambassador of the State of Qatar, Amira Saoussen Aouachria, Chargé d ’Affaires, Embassy of the Republic of Algeria, Mohammed El Yamani, Charge d ’Affaires, Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco, Said Ali Mubarak Al-Yamadi, Minister Plenipotentiary & Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman accredited to Italy & Greece (non-resident) and Manel Chamtouri, Counsellor, Embassy of Tunisia.
During this Forum, some B2B meetings took place at the hall of the Divani Caravel Hotel, as well as on the online platform dedicated for this event. This event also coincided with the publication of the Chamber’s Business Directory 2021-22, in which we aim at promoting member companies in Greece and the Arab world.
The Arab-Hellenic Chamber seizes the opportunity to sincerely thank the official authorities that have granted their kind auspices for this event and extends its deepest appreciation to Arab Chambers and official entities in Greece who contributed in this event and all the sponsors, member-companies of the Chamber, for their support, as well as the organizations who assisted as professional associations for the 10th Forum.
Issued on the 10th December by the Arab-Hellenic Chamber
To download the press release, please CLICK HERE.
To download the speakers’ photos and designations, please click HERE and HERE.
