MINISTRY OF PUBLIC ORDER
PRESS OFFICE
PRESS OFFICE
Athens, 23/11/2005
PRESS RELEASE
Today (23-11-05), at 11H00, the first meeting of the Center for Security Studies was held, in the presence of the Minister of Public Order Mr. George Voulgarakis.
The Head of KE.ME.A. and Chairman of the Board of Directors, retired Police Lieutenant General Mr. Vassilios Konstantinidis, the Deputy Head of the Center and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, lawyer Mr. George Maris and the following members of the Board attended the meeting:
- Mr. Iakovos Farsedakis, Professor of Criminology, Panteion University of Athens,
- Mr. Stamatios Georgoulis, Professor of International Law, National Military School,
- Mr. George Kanellos, Deputy Chief of the Hellenic Police Force,
- Mr. Andreas Kois, Police Lieutenant General, Deputy Chief A` of the Fire Brigade,
- Mr. Serafeim Tsitsibis, Deputy Chief A` of the National Intelligence Service.
Organizational and operational issues of the Center for Security Studies were mainly discussed in this meeting.
Furthermore, another matter of discussion was the cooperation between the Center for Security Studies and the People`s Republic of China on security issues in view of the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, especially after the recent signature of the Memorandum of Understanding on this field, between the Ministry of Public Order and the Coordinating Committee on security issues of the 29th Olympic Games of China (Beijing, 3-11-2005).
At the end of the meeting the Minister Mr. Voulgarakis stated the following: “On this first meeting at the Center for Security Studies we had the opportunity to discuss important issues regarding the Centers human resources and infrastructure, not to mention its strategic objectives. I had the chance to assess once again that the task of fully profiting from the Olympic `Acquis` is being accomplished in a very systematic and significant way.”
It should be noted that the Center for Security Studies is a scientific, research and consulting agency created by law on September of 2005, so as to make the best out of the knowledge and experience acquired by the Ministry of Public Order from planning and implementing the security measures of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
This Center is a legal entity of private law based in Athens, with administrative and financial independency, operating to the benefit of public interest and monitored by the Minister of Public Order.
