I would like to say that I feel wonderful today as we, all
the colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gather on this very
significant occasion for our Ministry.
Anything related to Hellenism, anything that brings Greeks from all over the world closer together, touches us deeply at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and primarily the government itself. From the very beginning, it was the present government’s major policy priority -not only of its foreign policy- to be able to bring Greeks from all over the world closer to the homeland.
This was accomplished in several ways. The most important, in my opinion, was the way we addressed the issues of Greeks abroad, particularly the subject of absentee voting, which allows Greeks living abroad to vote from their places of residence. The first attempt, which had to be a compromise, included several restrictions, because the activation of the remote voting mechanism for Greeks abroad requires a very large majority pursuant to the Constitution. The major first initiative taken by the government following the July elections was to lift all procedural restrictions so that Greeks everywhere could vote and exercise the highest political right granted to them by the Constitution. Citizenship is the most important status, which we must safeguard in every possible way.
All the Ministries undertook a number of actions aimed precisely at uniting Hellenism. Some examples include our webpage on Gov.gr, all actions that make life easier for our compatriots, provisions with an economic footprint, and the reduction of bureaucracy. In New York and throughout my official travels abroad, I had the opportunity to meet Greeks in their respective places of residence. Love and nostalgia for the motherland are our biggest motivations for working to make their life easier. So that they feel that the homeland never forgets them, no matter how far away they are. That will be our major endeavor.
This is an extremely significant day and I would like to first thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Director General for Greeks Abroad, Ambassador Aliferi. We present this great initiative today with enormous work, meager resources, personal engagement, and great devotion. Of course, we thank the political leadership under Deputy Minister, Mr. Kotsiras, who immediately began working with great dedication in order to accelerate the implementation of the program. To develop it with the full support of the Information Society, our necessary and absolute assistance in carrying out our current program. Today’s initiative, which consists of two pillars and a virtual assistant that generates digital interactivity and satisfies contemporary digital administration standards, is truly important.
We all realize that the government continues the digital modernization of the state, which it initiated during its previous term in office. It will be extended, deepened, and broadened. From the beginning, the Information Society has been at the forefront. This process of digitalizing the state will continue, allowing us to even develop the parts that are currently not functional digitally, enabling us to implement the vision of an administration that is more advanced than what we currently have: a modern, effective, and responsive system.
The digital employee will come into our lives with our new project. The Virtual Assistant will never replace the human employee. Because irrespective of the development of artificial intelligence, there will always be a conscientious public official behind it, who will be able to apply at any moment human intelligence to the digital realm. Thus, the interaction between humans and machines will yield the best results. I would like to highlight the exceptional infrastructure created by the Virtual Assistant, not only in receiving and recording requests but primarily in suggesting the best solutions to each citizen residing abroad, to each Diaspora Greek. That is to say, there will essentially be a complete human-machine interaction. The Virtual Assistant will be available to provide proper guidance to the citizen.
The second major service we are presenting today, within the framework of transforming the processes of our consular services, is the Digital Requests Management Service. I have seen it and it is remarkable. It is functioning on a pilot basis and will be fully operational by the end of the month. It will change the daily lives of our fellow citizens residing abroad, as well as their interactions with the Consulates. I am aware that the relationship between citizens residing abroad and the Consulate is not always easy due to the geographic distance and the significant understaffing of our Consulates. Unfortunately, the economic crisis has significantly depleted these services. Considerable efforts are being made to increase both the budget and the personnel of the Consular Missions so that they can meet the efficiency standards expected by the citizens. With the new platform’s introduction, it will be possible to submit requests and certificates digitally, circumventing these cumbersome bureaucratic procedures. Additionally, this will facilitate the electronic payment of fees for consular services, which was previously a nightmare, and streamline the issuance and dispatch of documents to citizens, allowing for digital correspondence and interaction. And, of course, it will allow one to select the date for an in-person appointment, which will always be required as the final step of the process.
I wish to underscore that through this initiative, we will obtain a pivotal digital tool for assessing the efficacy of our Consular Missions, identifying potential deficiencies in our structures, and making improvements. We will do so, while constantly keeping in mind that we are at the service of our fellow citizens abroad.
And certainly, this approach will implicitly grant us the opportunity to realize a grand vision that we have at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: the establishment of a Registry for Diaspora Greeks. This will not only facilitate the provision of services to our compatriots but will also allow us to maintain and perform an accurate count of our Diaspora so that we know at any given time how many we are and how we can rely on the Greek Diaspora. While traditional diplomacy remains an indispensable instrument, the new forms of soft power that are emerging in a volatile international environment include, inter alia, the Diaspora of each country. For Greece, the Diaspora constitutes our greatest asset. We are always close to our Diaspora. My warmest congratulations!
November 15, 2023