Kikilias thanks 22 ambassadors of countries that helped Greece battle summer wildfires

The ambassadors of 22 countries that helped Greece manage the summer 2023 wilddfires were thanked by Climate Crisis & Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias at a special event on Tuesday.

Welcoming the ambassadors to the ministry, Kikilias proposed that a workshop be held on the significance of conclusions derived from the experience of exchanging know-how and best practices in dealing with natural disasters.

Referring to the weather extremeties registered in Greece this past summer, the minister noted that humidity levels in the country at that time were lower than 10%. In conjunction with prolonged heatwaves, this sutuation generated “extreme weather conditions for 16 consecutive days in July and then again over many days in August.”

While Greece “was battling it out at the massive wildfire in Dadia (Evros, northern Greece), “Daniel storm arrived from Europe, forcing us, with no time leeway whatsoever, to reorganize our strenghts and adjust to fighting against floods, just as we were doing against the fires.”

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The ambassadors agreed with Kikilias’ proposal for the joint workshop, and commended Greece for the successful evacuation of tourists during the summer mega-fires at the island of Rhodes, and the due transportation of visitors to safe locations away from potential harm.

The following ambassadors attended the event:

Albania: Joana Zhonga

Bulgaria: Valentin Poriazov

Czech Republic: Jakub Karfik

Croatia: Aleksandar Sunko

Cyrpus: Stavros Avgoustidis

Egypt: Omar Amer Youssef

France: Alexandre Diebolt

Germany: Hans-Günter Löffler

Italy: Susanna Schlein

Israel: Noam Katz

Jordan: Zuhair Ensour

Lebanon: Ghady El Khoury

Malta: Karl Littlejohn

Poland: Artur Lompart

Romania: Mioara-Florina Pitut

Serbia: Dejan Mackovic

Slovakia: Marcela Hanusova

Spain: Carles Maria Casajuana Palet

Sweden: Johan Borgstam

Switzerland: Stefan Estermann

Türkiye: Cagatay Erciyes

USA: George James Tsunis