2nd November 2009

On behalf of the organising committee of the civil society days I welcome you—bien venue, kalos ilthate, bien venidos in Athens. I am looking forward to two constructive days of open and frank dialogue.

Allow me, first, to introduce to you the organizing committee that the Onassis foundation appointed put together the Forum. Having worked with them for more than 10 months, I confess we have been very honoured and lucky to have them work with us. There are three professors—Antigone Lyberaki, Anna Triantafyllidou and Ruby Gropas (coordinators respectively of RT1.2.3). Meanwhile, Ambassador George Yennimatas (who, among many other tasks, skilfully guided us through the narrows of the Schengen visa process); Lida Bouzali on coordination; and Evgenia Christodoulakou on financial matters. And none of us could have done our jobs without the continuous support of all the staff of the Onassis Foundation. We thank them all very much.

Another critical part of our organization has been the International Advisory Committee. The IAC team consists of 17 members from the world of global migration, representing migrant groups, diasporas, development organizations, labour unions, the academy, and the private sector. They were selected from among 200 nominees.