Great success for the 5th Shipping Conference organized by the Fraternity of the Athenian Hydriots (www.aya.com.gr) for the fifth consecutive year, on Saturday 14, 2013, in Hydra, at the Historical Archives – Museum of Hydra. This institutional conference, held at the greatly commemorated island that bears an extremely important nautical history, gathered a large audience of distinguished Greek and foreign personalities of the shipping, business, diplomatic and political scene, covering a wide range of critical issues, concerning the Sino-Greek cooperation and the prospects created for further development.
The catalytic role of the Greek shipping industry in the recovery of the Greek economy, the crucial contribution of the Greek-Chinese cooperation, the performance of the business activity and the prospects of industrial partnership between the two countries, were the main pillars of interest. Keynote speakers such as the Secretary General for International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation at Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Panayiotis Michalos, the Commercial Attaché of the Chinese Embassy in Greece, Sun Liwei, attended the conference, as well as: John Coustas – President & CEO, Danaos Corp., Kyriakos Dermatis – Chairman of Intermodal Shipbroking, John Dragnis – CEO, Goldenport Holdings, Nathanael Mauclair – Deputy Director - International Listings, NYSE Euronext, Inc., Martin Stopford -President, Clarkson Research Services Ltd. Manolis Vordonis – ex General Manger of Thenamaris and Haisheng Zhou - General Manager, China Classification Society. A significant number of distinguished executives of the Greek shipping market and business participated in the discussion declaring this conference as the first institutionalized “free thought and pratique”, apart from the speakers, everyone had the opportunity to speak and express their views.
John Sahinis, Chairman of the Fraternity of the Athenian Hydriots, in his opening speech briefly presented the objectives of the Fraternity. These objectives, among others, are to promote the maritime history of Hydra, to attract young people to maritime professions, which were pioneered in Hydra and link researchers, senior managers, institutes and organizations of international shipping. The large audience was welcomed by Major of Hydra, Mr. Angelos Kotronis, congratulating the organizers for their five years of continuous effort to establish the institution of maritime conference in naval Hydra.
The conference covered key institutional issues of the present and future economic and trade cooperation between Greece and China, highlighting the added value of this for the development of the Greek economy and shipping in general.
Extremely fruitful was the speech of Mr. Panayiotis Michalos, Secretary General for International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation at Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on “the new government agreements in the development of Greek-Chinese relations in the business environment and their importance in the development of the economy”, thus emphasizing the critical factor of developing a coherent national strategy for marine and maritime trade, which will link Greece with global growth.
Valuable was the insight given by Mr. Sun Liwei, Commercial Attaché of the Chinese Embassy in Greece, into important facts of the Greek-Chinese cooperation, further noting the developments that Chinese entrepreneurs expect to happen in Greece.
Stock market sectors developed by China in order to meet the future requirements of international shipping companies and the subsequent reaction of NYSE in the face of these recent news, was analyzed by Nathanael Mauclair – Deputy Director - International Listings, NYSE Euronext, Inc.
The driving force between Greece and China, was highlighted by Manolis Vordonis – ex General Manger of Thenamaris, who also mentioned the cultural ties between these two nations, highlighting the importance of fostering and encouraging similar dynamic action plans and collaborative activities.
Kyriakos Dermatis – Chairman of Intermodal Shipbroking and member of the board of directors of the Chinese-Greek Chamber, invited the attendees in co-commitment to widen the necessary on this critical economic period, cooperation of relevant institutions. “A small country like ours has the power of global shipping and this can become our bargaining chip. In far away China we have found a friend and ally, we have found a partner that by building our cooperation can give a helping hand to the economy of our country”.
George Xiradakis, representing the Greece-China Association, pointed out the important work of the Association, the oldest organization that connects the two countries, explaining to the audience the important dimension that now takes place, the union of the two richest historical and cultural countries of the world. “The Greek bonds of friendship start from our cultural relationship and grow in all other areas including business relations. Our Chinese friends are open to the possibility of investing in Greece and furthermore the corresponding development of Greek business in P.R. of China”.
The big question addressed in this conference was Greece’s ability to attract Chinese capital and Chinese entrepreneurs. Mr. Michalos in his mellow technocratic presentation discussed the need for a coherent strategy by the Greek side, which he named Blue Strategy. The shipping industry is a leading parameter of this strategy, since it plays the major role in the international business activity of the Greek economy, and leading Greece to become a worthy partner of the large Chinese market.