Dear Colleagues and Partners,

In my capacity as the person strategically responsible for the greatest venture ever planned and implemented in Greece, in other words for the safe organization of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, let me congratulate you for having performed your duties towards our country and society in a way which shall be considered in the future as a point of reference.

We undertook a task of unforeseen dimensions as yet in the Greek territory and indeed, we assumed this responsibility in a particularly disturbed international environment in terms of security. Nevertheless, we have been successful and we completed this task.

We have risen up to the challenge of Olympic Security and this is something we have all accomplished in all locations: at the Olympic Venues, in the city, in public transport, at the country΄s external borders, at the airports, the ports and all around the Greek territory.

We are the winners, not only as individuals but also as a society and as a Country.

The Olympic Games, this worldwide celebration, was probably the strongest challenge we had to face in our entire career at multiple levels, regardless of our rank, our level of seniority or our role. Nothing has happened by chance. Nothing has been accomplished without the greatest effort. All the significant endeavors, the ventures difficult to achieve, have been accomplished by little Greece and the Greek people. This is now a fact, a work of a lifetime.

I would like to congratulate and thank each and every one of you personally, but also, I would like to specifically mention your families, since I know that you have put them aside during this period, being devoted to your duty. However, I strongly believe that your loved ones shall feel proud of you as I do too today.

Today we have won one more significant bet that upgrades our place worldwide at the professional and national level.

The only way to rise up to the major challenges of the future is to properly invest all this huge experience and know-how that has been acquired so far. Ahead of us is the task of creating and maintaining a safer environment for the Greek citizens, so that they can go about their everyday lives, since these are the fundamental beneficiaries of our work and our mission. This is a bet that we will be obliged to win on a daily basis so that we can consolidate in the minds of the Greek citizens this major achievement of ours and establish our credibility towards them. They were the ones who helped us greatly in this huge effort.

We shall continue our efforts to safely stage the Paralympics, the Games featuring the ultimate effort of humans to exceed their limits. This is another world celebration for which we must provide conditions of maximum security and I am confident that we shall achieve this objective.

I would like to congratulate you once more for realizing our noble objectives and urge you to continue this successful and restless effort to create a secure environment. Keep this well-known spirit of your up, with the same sense of duty always, with determination and knowledge, with enthusiasm and sobriety, with reason and boldness.