Attending an event for the donation of 300 diving wristwatches to the personnel of the Underwater Demolitions Command (DYK), Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday stressed that it was a unique gift made exclusively for them, as a small token of gratitude for their hard work and sacrifices. The watches were donated by Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, in a ceremony held at the DYK base in Skaramangas that was attended by Athanasios Laskaridis and Evi Lazou-Laskaridi.
"Mr and Mrs Laskaridis chose to honour your important contribution with a symbolic gift, the creation of a special watch by a Greek company Ianos, produced in limited edition. The watch you will receive is not available on the market, only you will have it. It is a diving watch that is a practical expression of the gratitude of the Greek state and the donors for the extremely difficult work that you do," he said.
Mitsotakis also thanked Mr and Mrs Laskaridis for their support of the Hellenic Armed Forces. He referred to their recent donation of two V-BAT drones equipped with the latest technology for use in aerial surveillance and the new cyberspace and cybersecurity building that is being constructed at the Hellenic National Defence General Staff headquarters.
"These two donations constitute the best proof that in the Armed Forces also, collaboration of the public sector with the private sector can truly lead to an important qualitative upgrade of capabilities. The Greek government, as you well know chief, has supported the Armed Forces and especially the Hellenic Navy. As today marks six years since the day I was sworn in as prime minister in July 2019, I was well aware of the state of affairs we were taking over, especially as regards the Hellenic Navy, as the result of a lengthy crisis in which there had been no significant investments for a long time. Now, of course, we have a totally different state of affairs, with the Hellenic Navy preparing to take delivery before the end of the year of the first of quite possibly four new Belharra frigates, which will be the spearhead of the new age that the Hellenic Navy is now entering," the prime minister said.
Mitsotakis concluded by calling for more donations to the Armed Forces, calling on the shipping community, especially, to more actively support the country's military and especially its Navy with targeted donations "that can truly make a great difference".
Evi Lazou-Laskaridi, as president of the foundation, said the donation was one more act of practical recognition of the important work of the Armed Forces and the need to support it, noting that the foundation's cooperation with the Armed Forces "is neither occasional nor circumstantial" and that it "becomes stronger year by year", through the memorandum of cooperation signed with the national defence ministry.
"So far, we have carried out 11 joint actions of coastal and mainland cleaning of islands and mainland regions, with the participation of more than 1,600 volunteers from all branches of the armed forces, removing more than 45 tonnes of rubbish from the sensitive coastline of our islands," she said.
She concluded by urging the participation of more women actively and equally employed in the Armed Forces, even in the underwater demolitions units, noting that their contribution, abilities and viewpoint were valuable for the operation of the forces and their development.