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Dimitris Avramopoulos (Greek: Δημήτρης Αβραμόπουλος) is a Greek politician and diplomat. He was Mayor of Athens for eight years.
Personal information
He was born in Athens in 1953. He originated from Ilia, Arkadia. He served his military service in the Greek Air Force (1978–1980), based in Athens and in the NATO Headquarters in Brussels. He is married to Vivian and has two sons, Filippos and Iasonas. He is fluent in English, French and Italian.
Diplomatic career
From 1980 since 1993 he served as a Career Diplomat to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens. From 1988 to 1992, he was Consul of Greece in Liege and Special Diplomatic Advisor to the President and Leader of the Nea Dimokratia Party, Costas Mitsotakis during this period. He also represented Greece in the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna at the same year. In 1992 he served as the Official Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign affairs in Athens and was Consul General of Greece to Geneva. In 1993 he was appointed Director of the Diplomatic Office of the Prime Minister of Greece.[1]
Political career
In 1993, he resigned from the Greek Diplomatic Service to enter the political arena, as a member of the Liberal Party “Nea Dimokratia” and he was elected member of the Central Committee. From 1993 to 1994 he was elected Deputy, member of the Greek Parliament. From 1994 to 2002 he was elected Mayor of Athens and was reelected in October 1998. From 1995 to 1999 he served as Chairman of the Central Union of Local Authorities of Greece. In 1995 he founded and was the first President of the “Permanent Conference of the Mayors of the Capitals of Southeastern Europe”. From 1996 to 2000 he served as Vice President of the Executive Committee of the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) and from 1997 to 2002, as a member of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union. In March 2001 he founded the “Free Citizens Movement (KEP) party” until June 2002. From 2000 to 2002, he was elected President of the “Summit Conference of the Mayors of the World” and during this period he founded the “World Union of Olympic Cities”, “Athens’ International Prize for Democracy”, and “World Institute of Global and Cities’ Diplomacy” (Rome). In 2004 the “New Democracy” party won the elections. Dimitris Avramopoulos took the office of Minister of Tourism until 2006. From 2006 until 2009, he served as Minister of Health And Social Solidarity.[2] In the October 2009 election, Dimitris Avramopoulos was re-elected Deputy, member of the Greek Parliament for Athens A District. After the election of Antonis Samaras in the “New Democracy” party Presidency he was appointed President of the Organizing Committee of the 8th Party Congress held in Athens in June 2010. In July 2010, he assumed the position of Vice-President of “New Democracy”, a post he currently holds.
Other positions
From the beginning of his career until 2003, Dimitris Avramopoulos became Honorary President of the Athens’ International Prize for Democracy, under the auspices of UNESCO (Paris). He also became Chairman of the Steering Committee on Cities´ Diplomacy, established by the Global Forum (Rome) and the World Bank Institute (Washington D.C.). He was elected President of the “World Institute of Global and Cities’ Diplomacy”, an independent NGO based in Rome as well as an Executive President of the “World Union of Olympic Cities”, an NGO, according to the Olympic Charter, recognized by the IOC (Lausanne).
Academic degrees
Avramopoulos has a Bachelor of Arts in Public Law and Political Science from the Law School of Athens’ University. He has also a postgraduate Specialization Diploma in International Organisation (Boston University / Brussels) and a Masters in European Studies (Institute of European Affairs of the “Université Libre de Bruxelles” in Brussels). He was awarded honorary doctorates by Adelphi University (Long Island, New York), Deree College (Athens), Drexel University (Philadelphia) and Kingston University (London).[3]
He was Honorary Professor of the State Academy of Technological Sciences of Moscow and Peking University (Beijing).
Honorary distinctions and awards
He has received awards and recognitions from many countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Vatican City, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, as well as from the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinopolis, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Patriarchate of Alexandria. He has also been awarded, in 2006, the “Vincitore Assoluto” Award of the Premio Internazionale “Giuseppe Sciacca”. He has been presented with highest distinctions from many foreign cities and Municipalities: Ammohostos, Barcelona, Beijing, Beirut, Berlin, Boston, Brooklyn N.Y., Bucharest, Caracas, Chicago, Florence, Genoa, Jakarta, Havana, Istanbul, Kiev, Krotone, Ljubljana, Los Angeles, Miami -Florida, Massachusetts, Montreal, Moscow, New Jersey, New York, Nicosia, Paris, Philadelphia, Providence, Rhode Island, Rome, Sofia, State of Illinois, Sydney, Tbilisi, Tirana, Toronto, Valletta, Washington D.C., Xian, Yerevan. He has also been awarded the Honorary Citizenship of 40 Greek and foreign cities..
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