The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, in collaboration with Tsinghua University of Beijing, organizes the two-day Seminar “China, Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean”.
The Seminar was held at the Historical Library of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation in Piraeus (2nd Merarchias & Aktis Moutsopoulou).
The strategic significance of the Eastern Mediterranean region in recent times has been underestimated. Building on the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation – Tsinghua University Initiative for Civilization Dialogue and the Marilena Laskaridis Visiting Chair for Hellenic and European Studies at Tsinghua University, the Foundation brought together renowned experts from Greece and China for a symposium on the Mediterranean and European dimension of the New Silk Road, sounding ways for Greece and China to promote a comprehensive strategic partnership in this region in a period of geopolitical change, technological disruption and global uncertainty, and discussed various aspects of China-Greece relations with special focus on the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Seminar was conducted in English, without translation.
1st Session/1η Συνεδρία
2nd Session/2η Συνεδρία
3rd Session/3η Συνεδρία
4th Session/4η Συνεδρία
5th Session/5η Συνεδρία
PROGRAMME
Friday 10 May 2019
16:00 – 16:45 Registration
17:00 – 17:10 Welcome speech-opening remarks
Konstantinos Mazarakis, General Director of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation
Session 1: The Tsinghua–Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation Partnership and the State of Bilateral Relations
17:20 – 17:40 Keynote Speech: China and Greece: Maritime Superpowers
Panos Laskaridis, President of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, President European Community Shipowners’ Associations
17:40 – 18:00 Chinese diplomacy for the new era and its core values
Zhang Lihua, Professor, Director of Research Center for China-EU Relations, Tsinghua University
18:00 – 18:30 Discussion. Moderators: Konstantinos Mazarakis – Vasilis Trigkas
18:30 – 20:00 Informal garden reception
Saturday 11 May 2019
Session 2: The Belt and Road Initiative: A Global and Regional Perspective
Chair: Konstantinos Arvanitopoulos
09:10 – 09:30 Sino-Greece Cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative
Zhao Kejin, Professor, Vice-Dean of the School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University
09:30 – 09:50 Belt and Road Initiative: Geopolitical and Geoeconomic considerations
Athanasios Platias, Professor of Strategy, Department of International and European Studies, University of Piraeus
09:50 – 10:10 China-Europe cooperation under the “Belt and Road Initiative”: Perception, Challenges and Prospects
Dr. You Nan, Postdoctoral Fellow of the Institute of International Relations, Tsinghua University
10:10 – 10:30 Discussion
Session 3: Focusing on Eastern Mediterranean: Greece as a Strategic Interpreter between China and Europe?
Chair: Athanasios Platias
10:50 – 11:10 TBA
Charalambos Papasotiriou, Professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies, Department of International, European and Area Studies, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens
11:10 – 11:30 One Belt and One Road. Initiative and Cooperation between China and Greece: Impetus, Areas and Prospect.
Song Xiaomin, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of European Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
11:30 – 11:50 Piraeus Port: Important Project of China – Greece Cooperation.
Nektarios Demenopoulos, Piraeus Port Authority Deputy Manager PR, IR & Company Announcements Dpt.
11:50 – 12:10 What is happening in the Eastern Mediterranean?
Angelos Syrigos, Associate Professor of International Law and Foreign Policy, Department of International, European and Area Studies, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens
12:10 – 12:30 Discussion
12:30 – 13:30 Light lunch
Session 4: The Political Economy of the BRI and the Future of the European Project: A Normative & Developmental Dimension
Chair: Liu Zuokui, Senior Research Fellow, Director of the Department of Central and Eastern European Studies, Institute of European Studies, CASS; Director of the Secretariat Office of the “16+1 Think Tanks Network”, CASS
13:40 – 14:00 Greece and China: Economic cooperation and the BRI
Wendi Chen, Chief of Political and Media Affairs Section, Chinese Embassy in Greece, Athens
14:00 – 14:20 European Union and China: Economic cooperation and the BRI
Plutarchos Sakellaris, Professor at Athens University of Economics and Business, Hon. Vice President of the European Investment Bank
14:20 – 14:40 Fostering Sustainability. Growth and Good Governance: Europe’s Funding GAP and PRC’s BRI
Emilios Avgouleas, Chair Professor of Banking Law and Finance, University of Edinburg, Distinguished Visiting Professor University of Hong Kong
14:40 – 15:00 Discussion
15:10 – 17:00 5th Session: China & Greece: Promoting Regional Partnerships in the Balkans and East Med
Chair: Emilios Avgouleas, Chair Professor of Banking Law and Finance, University of Edinburg, Distinguished Visiting Professor University of Hong Kong & Zhang Lihua, Professor, Director of Research Center for China-EU Relations, Tsinghua University
15:20 – 15:40 The Cooperation of 16+1
Dr. Liu Zuokui, Senior Research Fellow, Director of the Department of Central and Eastern European Studies, Institute of European Studies, CASS; Director of the Secretariat Office of the “16+1 Think Tanks Network”, CASS
15:40 – 16:00 Greece and China as security and prosperity providers in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean
Thanos Dokos, General Director, ELIAMEP
16:00 – 16:20 Greece & China: Α Non-Hegemonic Superstructure of Regional Infrastructure
Vasilis Trigkas, Onassis Scholar & Research Fellow, Belt & Road Strategy Center, Tsinghua University
16:20 – 17:00 Final comments
