Dimitris Avramopoulos
Minister of Tourism, Greece

Mr Avramopoulos started as a career diplomat in 1980 and has held positions such as the Consul of Greece in Liège (Belgium), Special Diplomatic Advisor to the President Costas Mitsotakis, Leader of the New Democracy Party (N.D.), Official Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Athens), Consul General of Greece to Geneva (Switzerland) and the Director of the Diplomatic Office of the Prime Minister of Greece, Costas Mitsotakis.

He resigned from the Greek Diplomatic Service and entered the political arena in 1993 as a member of the Liberal Party "New Democracy". He was then elected Deputy and became a member of the Greek Parliament.

From1995-2002 he was Mayor of Athens. He was elected for the first term in October 1994 municipal elections and reelected in October 1998 with a landslide majority. During that time, he held positions as the Chairman of the Central Union of Local Authorities of Greece, Vice President of the Executive Committee of the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) and Member of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union and Vice President of its Bureau. In 1995 he became the founder and first President of the "Permanent Conference of the Mayors of the Capitals of Southeastern Europe". From 2000-2001, he was President of the "Free Citizens Movement".

Mr Avramopoulos was elected Member of the Parliament with the "New Democracy" party in the March 7, 2004 Governmental elections and he became Minister of Tourism.

In addition to his responsibilities as Minister of Tourism, Mr Avramopoulos is also Honorary President of the Athens' International Prize for Democracy, Chairman of the Steering Committee on Cities´ Diplomacy, President of the "World Institute of Glocal and Cities' Diplomacy", Executive President of the "World Union of Olympic Cities" and Visiting Fellow of the Institute of Politics, JFK School of Government, Harvard University.

Mr Avrampolous has a Bachelor of Arts in Public Law and Political Science from the Law School of Athens' University, a Postgraduate Specialization Diploma on International Organisation (Boston University / Brussels) and a Masters on European Studies (Institute of European Affairs of the "Université Libre des Bruxelles" (Brussels). He also holds a number of honorary doctorates.

He has been bestowed awards and decorations from many countries and has been presented with highest distinctions from many foreign cities and Municipalities. He has also been bestowed the Honorary Citizenship of 37 Greek and foreign cities.