Press Office
Athens, 27 July 2021
Hellenic Parliament hosts 13th General Assembly of World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association (WHIA/PADEE)
The World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association (WHIA/PADEE) will convene in the Senate Hall of the Hellenic Parliament for its 13th General Assembly from 28 to 30 July. This year's General Assembly is dedicated to the 200th Anniversary of the Greek Revolution. 39 MPs of Greek origin from 8 countries will be participating: Albania, France, Germany, the US, Jordan, Canada, Kenya and Sweden.
During the opening of the General Assembly on Wednesday 28 July (10:00 am) the following will deliver welcoming addresses: The President of the Hellenic Parliament Constantine Tassoulas, the Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades, the Leader of the Main Opposition Alexis Tsipras, the President of the “Greece 2021” Committee Gianna Aggelopoulos – Daskalaki, as well as Lieutenant Governor of California Eleni Kounalakis. There will also be recorded messages by US Congressman Gus Bilirakis and US Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis. The General Assembly will be chaired by the President of the WHIA, Rhode Island State Senator Leonidas Raptakis (US).
In a separate session, issues of the Diaspora of Greece and Cyprus will be discussed in the presence of the Deputy Minister for Greeks of the Diaspora Konstantinos Vlasis and the Presidential Commissioner of Cyprus for Humanitarian Affairs and Overseas Cypriots Fotis Fotiou.
A joint meeting will also be held with the Parliamentary Committee on Hellenism of the Diaspora, under its Chair Savvas Anastasiadis, in the framework of which participants will hear from the Secretary General for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs John Chrysoulakis. The Minister of Interior Mavroudis Voridis and the Minister of Tourism Harry Theocharis have been invited to the General Assembly to address and brief participants.
The WHIA members will be received by the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou and will visit the Defence Ministry where they will meet with and be briefed by the Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos and the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff Konstantinos Floros. Lastly, elections will be held for the new Board of Directors of the Assembly, the members of which will be received by the President of the Hellenic Parliament, Constantine Tassoulas.
The WHIA was established in August 1996 at the initiative of the Greek Government and has been supported in its work by the Hellenic Parliament ever since. The members are current and former elected members of Greek origin from legislative bodies of other countries.
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