New NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will visit Athens next Tuesday for talks with Greek leadership, including with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis and Defense Minister Nikos Dendias.
Joint press statements, by Mitsotakis and Rutte are scheduled after their talks.
The Alliance chief’s press statements with Mitsotakis will be streamed live on the NATO website, and broadcast live on EBU News Exchange.
A day earlier, on Monday, Rutte will travel to the Turkish capital of Ankara for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the country’s foreign and defense ministers, Hakan Fidan and Yaşar Güler, respectively.
He’s also set to meet with local defense industry representatives and tour related facilities in that country.
Greece hosted the biggest annual NATO air exercise in Europe, Ramstein Flag 24, in late September and early October 2024 at the Andravida Air Base in southwest Greece.
The development marked the first time that Greece’s air force hosted the specific exercise, with more than 140 Allied aircraft having participated, along with ground crews and staff officers. More than 100 landings of combat aircraft were recorded on the first day alone, with a large bloc being Hellenic Air Force fighter jets.
Air tankers and AWACS planes are also an integral part of the exercise, with an inter-branch aspect achieved with the participation of ground and naval forces. Flights and mid-air maneuvers are taking place over the Ionian and Aegean Seas and the Greek mainland, particularly the Peloponnese.
