A farewell lunch for US Ambassador Pyatt

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias hosted US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt to a farewell lunch Thursday.

Pyatt has served at the Athens post since October 2016, an unusually long tenure.

Also attending the lunch were top ministry officials, the chairman of the parliamentary Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs Konstantinos Gioulekas and several ambassadors, including those of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Dendias recalled that, before coming to Greece, Pyatt had served in Ukraine, from 2013 to 2016.

The Foreign Minister noted that Pyatt’s leaving coincides with a surge in Turkish violations in the Aegean in the forms of overflights over Greek space, adding that these actions are taking place in a critical moment for NATO.

Dendias emphasized that, during Pyatt’s stint in Athens, Greek-US relations were significantly strengthened, with the two revisions of the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement, the 3+1 partnership with Cyprus and Israel and several high-level meetings that will continue next month with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ official visit to the US and his addressing a joint session of Congress on May 17, a first for a Greek leader.

Dendias also thanked Pyatt for the interest and friendship he showed to the country and its people and his frequent travels around the country, not just for official occasions.