PM Mitsotakis to Visit Washington for NATO Anniversary Summit, Announces Marinakis

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is set to visit Washington for the NATO Summit, which coincides with the Alliance’s 75th anniversary, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis announced on Monday.

This summit marks the first with 32 allied states, following the recent inclusion of Finland and Sweden.

Key agenda items in Washington include bolstering NATO‘s defensive capabilities, increasing contributions from European member-states and Canada, supporting Ukraine, and enhancing cooperation with partners such as the EU and the Indo-Pacific 4 (Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea). Greece, already exceeding the 2% GDP defence spending requirement, has proposed a European air defense “shield” with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Mitsotakis will participate in a public debate with former U.S. Ambassador to Greece Daniel Speckhard at the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, followed by meetings with Congress members and events for NATO’s 75th anniversary. On Wednesday, he will engage in a public discussion with former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Nadia Schadlow at the NATO Public Forum and attend a dinner hosted by the U.S. President and First Lady.

Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis will accompany PM Mitsotakis to the NATO anniversary summit.

After the summit, Mitsotakis will travel to New York to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday.

Marinakis also highlighted Greece’s progress in digitizing state services, with a significant increase in fibre-optic networks and 5G coverage. He noted that the gov.gr portal now offers 1,820 services and has issued 290 million documents.

Addressing recent summer fires, Marinakis reported that over 140 fires had been managed in the last three days, with significant efforts from firefighting forces. He stressed the impact of climate change, noting the unprecedented number of fires in June and the forecast for continued extreme weather in July.

(Source: Amna)