ATHENS – Greece is strengthening its international presence through initiatives for the Western Balkans as well as its contacts with emerging regional powers that have a role in the United Nations and especially the UN Security Council, such as India and Brazil, diplomatic sources said on Monday

As the same sources said, the foreign ministry is continuing its efforts to promote stability both in Greece’s immediate neighbourhood and in the wider region via such contacts.

Earlier on Monday, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias hosted a working breakfast on the sidelines of the EU Foreign Ministers Council in Brussels, with the participation of the Foreign Minister of North Macedonia and his EU counterparts. They examined North Macedonia’s EU accession prospects and the EU prospect of the Western Balkans.

The breakfast attended 17 EU Foreign Ministers, including those of France, Italy and Germany, as well as EU High Representative Josep Borrell and the Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi.

In his intervention, Dendias underlined Greece’s long-standing position for an immediate start of negotiations for the accession of North Macedonia and Albania to the European Union. At the same time, he pointed out Athens’ support for the European prospects of the entire Western Balkans with the already known conditionality, which will consolidate a climate of security and prosperity.

In the context of promoting international stability and Greek positions, Dendias is to visit India on Tuesday, where he will meet with the country’s vice president Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu and with his counterpart Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Next week Dendias will visit Brazil, the first visit by a Greek foreign minister to the South American country in the last 10 years. In Brazil, Dendias is expected to meet, among others, with his counterpart Carlos Alberto Franco França.

The above visits, apart from Greece’s openings to the emerging regional powers in the Indian Ocean and Latin America, respectively, prove the importance that Greece is giving to the UN. It is noted that both countries are non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, a position for which Greece is a candidate for the period 2025-2026.

Finally, it is also underlined that Greece has announced its candidacy for the Human Rights Council for the period 2029-2030 as well as for the presidency of the UN General Assembly in 2035.