This came during the Thessaloniki Summit 2025, which was organized by the Federation of Hellenic Industries (FHI) in collaboration with the Delphi Economic Forum.
Egyptian Ambassador to Greece Omar Amer Youssef and Deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection of the Republic of Cyprus Nikolaos A. Ioannides also attended the summit.
Minister Panagiotopoulos also affirmed that this cooperation can be a powerful tool for effectively managing and controlling migration flows and developing common strategies to address this complex challenge.
During the summit, a panel discussion was held on "The impact of the conflicts in the Middle East on migration flows."
"Our goal – and this concerns all three countries – is to control illegal migration flows and, at the same time, to cooperate to improve the organization of legal migration, which can boost our national economies," Panagiotopoulos said.
Panagiotopoulos focused particularly on the issue of returns, emphasizing that Greece is taking initiatives to improve the organization of this process.
"We are taking initiatives at the European Union level to organize better the return process of those who are not entitled to stay in the member states, as well as legislative interventions in the asylum process. At the same time, we are adopting a stricter policy for the security and guarding of European borders," he clarified.
"Migration is a key issue and a critical challenge for the entire Western world,” Panagiotopoulos stressed.
Additionally, he highlighted that geopolitical crises and extreme manifestations of climate change are directly linked to increased migratory flows.
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