Report of the Year 2004

At the beginning of the year, we included in our agenda the construction of the association’s website in which the Youth will have a separate page at its disposal. Additionally, we intend to strengthen the whole idea of Youth participation, through Internet discussions, mailing procedures and personal meetings, concerning issues of general interest.

Young people will be informed about the Greek Association for Atlantic & European Cooperation and simultaneously about the YATA network. We know that Greek students don’t know enough about NATO and the EU and our aim is to try and do workshops in schools or for students at Universities informing them about the exact goals of those organizations and how young people can be involved.

Furthermore, we are thinking about young people applying for internships in the Association in order to learn how the system works and how more people can be involved. In addition, every 3 months the Youth Branch will publish a newsletter in Greek, in which the subjects of politics, diplomacy, economy and current events will be covered.

Simultaneously, the youth branch has been separated in groups. Every group is handling one subject that occurs security, NGO, terrorism and is making a report. At the end of the year we will make a big seminar that every group will present all the investigation that they have made and we will print all the minutes and distribute to all people that should be interested for them.

During this year the Youth branch of the Greek Association for Atlantic & European Cooperation participated in several Seminars, had a lot of meetings and some parties.. While the youth people return from their trips, they make a report and make presentation to all the youth branch.

January: The new year has come and the youth branch had a great party to celebrate. Furthermore, it was a nice reason so new people to meet the youth branch and learn what we want to achieve and how they can help.
The seminars that we participated were:

February: Round Table discussion with newly appointed SG of NATO

Newly appointed Secretary General, Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, was the guest of honor at this Round Table. The event took place at the Grande Bretagne, in Athens, on February 20th, 2004. The President of GAAEC Mr. Theodossis Georgiou received the Secretary General.
The Youth branch participated in the round table and heard what are the scopes of the new Secretary General and what he wants to achieve.

June 26th – June 30th, 2004: The Istanbul Pan-Atlantic Student Summit (IPASS) took place in the framework of the NATO Summit. At the Model NATO, in Istanbul, the Youth Branch of the Greek Association for Atlantic and European Cooperation (GAAEC) was represented by four delegates. Mr. Giorgos Liakis was the Head Delegate coupled by Mr. Ioannis Sasopoulos, Ms. Chriso Ritsou and Mr. Andreas Ninios. Mr. Liakis lead the Greek delegation in the General Assembly room, together with Mr. Sasopoulos. Ms. Ritsou represented Greece in the Military Committee and Mr. Ninios, part of the Greek delegation, represented GAAEC in an independent role as Chairman of the Military Committee.

July 11th – July 25th, 2004: “Kernels of the Future” is a seminar that brings together youths, ranging from 14 to 17 years of age. Those youths will come from countries, ranging from the Balkans to the Middle East and the US. For two weeks they observed lessons, learning about International Institutions, Civil Society and Conflict Resolution. Through these lessons, workshops and other activities, the aim was to enhance common understanding and tolerance.

July 3rd – July 26th 2004: The “9th International Institute for Political & Economic Studies” brings together exceptional students who have completed or are nearing completion of their University degrees. Those students come from countries ranging from the Balkans to the Middle East and the US. For three weeks they lived and learned together. Each day they were taught by a distinguished list of professors in matters ranging from Conflict Resolution to International Relations and Ethics. Aside from the classroom, activities in confidence building measures were organized with an aim to foster understanding and tolerance.

July 6th – July 12th, 2004: DAYS Conference in Denmark
The DAYS 2004 conference was held in Aalborg, Denmark from the 6th until the 12 of July. GAAEC was represented by Youth Branch member Ioannis Sasopoulos.

July 24th – July 31st, 2004: Conference on “The Mediterranean Basin: between peace and terror. The two faces of Janus”

GAAEC was represented at this 9th YATA conference, in Portugal, by Elena Pounenti and Kostantina Mylona. The conference was held from the 24th until the 31st of July, 2004. A report of events has been written at the end of the activities description.

“Regional Security & the role of youth in peace-building: A Year After: Lessons learned & Opportunities for the future”
November 9th – 11th, 2004: International Seminar in Yerevan, Armenia

Young representatives of national YATAs from Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, FYROM, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. The participants from Greece were: Mr. Themistoklis PAPADIMOPOULOS and Mr. Triantafyllos KARANTRANTOS.
In this Conference the youth participants discussed, gave their views and opinions concerning feelings in their own country about NATO, the role and future of NATO from their perspective, the role of Public Diplomacy and conflict resolution in the region.

INSTABUL PAN – ATLANTIC STUDENT SUMMIT (I-PASS)

We are very pleased to inform you that the ATA, in cooperation with the Atlantic Council of the United States, organised the Istanbul Pan-Atlantic Student Summit (I-PASS) that was held in conjunction with the NATO summit in Turkey. I-PASS was held from the evening of Saturday 26 June through lunch on Wednesday 30 June, 2004.
Students were recruited to participate in I-PASS through their ATA national association. Each national association has been allotted five student places at I-PASS.

NATO simulation

As at the Prague Atlantic Student Summit, a major feature of I-PASS was the NATO simulation. National associations were encouraged to suggest a maximum of two students from their allotment of five who would be suitable to play the roles of high-level NATO officials during the simulation, specifically, the NATO Secretary General, SACEUR, the Deputy Secretary General, the Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, and the NATO spokesperson.