Page 14 - DIVA_1_2014

Greece

Presidency of the

European

Union

Interview with His Excellency

Alexis Alexandris

Ambassador of Greece

to the United Nations

Q: Your Excellency, could you In January 2014 I completed Q: Among the different orga-
tell us something about your my first year in Geneva, in this nizations in Geneva, is there
background? great city of diplomacy where the one in particular that is close
League of Nations was established to your heart?
I was born in Istanbul, as a mem- immediately after the First World
ber of the historic Greek minority. War. Now under the auspices As a specialist in minorities and
After a long tour studying abroad of the United Nations the inter- human rights, it is the Office of
in universities, I entered the national community is repre- the High Commissioner for Hu-
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sented in its entirety. man Rights, the United Nations
settled in Greece. Throughout High Commissioner for Refugees,
my career at the Ministry I held The spirit of co-operation we the International Organization
various positions. have creates a very strong sense for Migration and the Red Cross.
of belonging to a family of multi- These four organizations special-
I'm a specialist on Greek/Turkish lateral diplomacy. The diversity ize on subjects that are very close
relations, minority issues and hu- of the organizations and agencies to my heart. I deal with these is-
man rights, an area in which I ear- that we are working with renders sues almost on a daily basis, inter-
ned my doctorate from King's Col- this task extremely interesting, acting and exchanging views with
lege, University of London. Later I not to mention the importance of colleagues from all over the world.
lectured on these topics at McGill the issues that these internatio-
University in Montreal, Canada. nal institutions are dealing with. There are of course many other
The Geneva international working issues the Permanent Mission
Q: You have been the Greek environment presents many new of Greece covers as well, which
ambassador to the UN and challenges and the issues we are encompass the entire family of
the international organi- seized with are on the top of the organizations specializing on eco-
zations here in Geneva for international agenda and figure nomic, but also social issues, such
more than a year now. Could prominently in the news. as WTO, TJNCTAD, ILO, WIPO,
you give us your impressions UNECE and WHO. All these orga-
and tell us about the particu- nizations uphold multilateralism.
lar challenges? An approach benefiting all actors

12 International