GREEK ENVOY ARRIVES IN MANILA TO OPEN EMBASSY  

19 February 2007 — Philippine Ambassador to Greece Rigoberto D. Tiglao reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that H. E. George-Chrysostomos Nicoiaidis, Ambassador-designate of the Hellenic Republic to the Philippines , arrived 10 February 2007 in Manila to open Greece 's first Embassy in the Philippines .  

“The opening of Greece 's resident mission will be a breakthrough in further developing relations between Greece and the Philippines ,” Ambassador Tiglao stated.  

Filipino officers and staff of about 7,000 make up the biggest nationality of the seamen manning Greek ships, which constitute the biggest merchant marine fleet in the world today.  

Ambassador Tiglao said that Greek shipowners are hoping that the Philippines will be able to train the many officers and seamen needed to fill up the huge demand for such specialized staff in the next several years. Filipino seamen are very much respected for their skills and integrity by Greek shipping companies, and many Greek ships have Filipinos as the majority of their crew.  

There also about 20,000 Filipinos living and/or working in Greece , mainly in the capital Athens and in Greek luxury ships and yachts docked in the adjacent port city of Piraeus . Both are dominantly Christian countries, with many observers saying that Filipinos and Greeks are strikingly similar in their Christian, family-centered, and life-loving values.  

“Although diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Greece were established way back in 1947, the establishment of resident missions in Manila and in Athens was firmed up only in 1987 in a meeting in the United Nations headquarters between then Secretary of Foreign Affairs Raul Manglapus and then Greek Foreign Minister Karoios Papoulias, now President of the Hellenic Republic,” Ambassador Tiglao explained.  

However, while the Philippines set up its resident mission in Athens in 1988, the Philippines had been covered only from Greece 's embassy in Jakarta , Indonesia . Filipinos traveling to Greece were issued with the appropriate visas by Greece 's Jakarta embassy or through the Spanish Embassy in Manila .  

Ambassador-designate Nicolaidis informally informed Ambassador Tiglao of his designation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Ambassador to Manila in September, saying that he was very happy about his new posting, as he has had a keen interest in Southeast Asia and in the Philippines .  

Ambassador-designate Nicolaidis was in Manila for a week last November to assess the logistical requirements for opening up the Greek embassy.  He will be joined by his wife Atcmene, a former banker.  END

/jay

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