Speaker

Ambassador Anastassios ( Tassos ) Kriekoukis
Born in Athens in 1948, Ambassador Tassos Kriekoukis was
joined the Greek diplomatic service in November 1974 just after
the fall of the military junta and after having finished his law
studies and his military service as an ensign in the Greek Navy. In
his diplomatic career, he served in Paris, Rio de Janeiro and
Dortmund in various role before being promoted to
ambassadorial ranks as Minister Counsellor at the Permanent Representation to the European Union, Ambassador in Georgia, Director of European external affairs, Permanent Representative to the International Organisations in Geneva, President of the United Nations Security Council Compensation Commission for the War in Iraq, Chief of Protocol and finally as Ambassador of Greece to Germany till his retirement in 2010 upon which he was decorated with the Grand Cross of the order of the Phoenix.
The Ambassador recently came out of his brief retirement to take up an honorary yet functional role for the Mayor of Athens when, after his election, Mayor Bakoyannis asked Ambassador Kriekoukis to be his Diplomatic Advisor.
A lover of the Greek aesthetic and its commonality with European culture, he speaks English, French, German, Portuguese and Italian - as well as having written essays on music, literature and art.