Meeting of the Permanent Representative, Ambassador Alexandros Alexandris with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Filippo Grandi

This week, our Permanent Representative, Ambassador Alexandros Alexandris, had a meeting with the new UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Filippo Grandi who was accompanied by the Director of the UNHCR Bureau for Europe, Mr Vincent Cochetel, and the Chief of Staff of the Executive Office of the High Commissioner, Mr Athar Sultan-Khan. Our PR congratulated Mr Grandi for his election at the helm of the UN Refugee Agency and expressed our country’s willingness and readiness to support him in his important mandate especially at the current challenging juncture. The two men also exchanged views on the current refugee crisis and on ways to deal with it. Our PR briefed the High Commissioner on the emergency response of the Greek authorities in order to manage the refugee and migratory flows which continue at a high pace also this year. Mr Grandi expressed his appreciation for the burden borne by Greece in the midst of this unprecedented global refugee crisis. Mr Alexandris assured Mr Grandi that our country will continue to strengthen and further deepen its fruitful cooperation with UNHCR – one of the most important humanitarian actors present in Greece now.