Mr. Constantinos Antonopoulos, CEO of Intralot Group, commented: “Our new agreement in Minas Gerais has increased further our strong position in the Latin American region and particularly in the promising Brazilian market. Together with the State Lottery of Minas Gerais we will work hard to offer exciting games that will attract the players, increase the lottery sales and consequently the amounts distributed to the players.”

Taousanis, who was visiting the city for the first time, said his company produced canned mackerel, herring, octopus, squid, sardines, anchovies and tuna.

Georgia Paradissi, Export Manager Agro VI M, said the company’s olive oil products were sold through Spinneys, Carrefour and other supermarket chains and were normally a little more expensive than rival brands from Jordan, Lebanon and other Gulf countries.
“The current exchange rate is helping the company’s position in the regional and global markets,” he added. “However, the gain is greater in the US market where the euro-dollar exchange rate benefits the Greek brands.”

Alexander Christodoulou, Area Sales Manager of another Greek company, CHB Fruit Processing, said the crisis was giving a boost to food exports.
“We can now take advantage of the weak euro and enjoy a clear advantage over US products in world markets. We have many customers in the UAE such as Aujan Industries and other processing units. We’re able to sell at a cheaper price now due to the euro’s weakness, we enjoy a price advantage in the UAE market.”

Alexander Theodoulidis, Senior Manager of the processed fruits division of Venus Growers, said the firm was trying to win new orders in the Middle East.
“We produce 50,000 tonnes of canned peaches, canned fruit cocktail, fruits in plastic pots and peach puree,” he added.
“As the dollar is getting stronger we are gaining from the current financial turmoil,” he said.
“The country’s debt crisis has no impact on our company’s dealings with our regular customers.”
Theodoulidis said he had received many inquiries from visitors to the Greek pavilion at Gulfood. Twenty-three companies from the country took part in the show and the Greek Ministry of Economy Competitiveness and Shopping was also represented.

The Greek Center in Santiago

By Alex Billinis*

I spent the summer of 1996 studying and working in Chile, as part of a law school exchange program. As always in my world travels, I sought out the Greek community. I had heard stories from my father about his own sailor father’s travels to Chile, where he described a strong Greek community in the 1930s, centered, as usual, around shipping and mercantile activities, with the largest communities in the capital, Santiago, and the nearby Pacific port of Valparaiso (Valley of Paradise). The tragic events of the past weekend have brought my thoughts back to Chile, and to its small Greek community.
When compared to the Greek communities in North America, Australia, or parts of Europe, the Greek Chilean community is very small, and highly assimilated. This is a characteristic of Greek communities throughout Latin America. Most Greeks there are of the second or third generation, and at the Santiago Church, few could follow the liturgy in Greek, and often they would cross themselves the Catholic way, as children of mixed marriages. The priest at the time was from Pireaus, where my father grew up, and the psalti was from Salonika, so we became fast friends. I even found a distant cousin of mine, who recognized my uncommon surname, Billinis, from the Vatika region of Laconia. The Greek Chilean community had a high proportion of Asia Minor origins, who uprooted from their Constantinople and Anatolian homelands, continued their search for a home. Others were like my “cousin,” merchant seafarers who landed in Valparaiso and stayed. Santiago also has a small Greek Community Center, the Colectividad Helenica, which has a small membership in a lovely building struggling to keep cultural and linguistic heritage alive. I also found the Greek Embassy quite involved with supporting the small community.
Aside from the Santiago Church, there is a chapel in Valparaiso and the in coastal resort of Vina del Mar, and a small community in the northern mining town of Antofagasta. In the course of my work, I visited all of these cities, but I never was able to find the churches or communities. They had been absorbed, more of a cultural artifact. In this, I was reminded of my travels in Hungary and Austria, where Greek communities left impressive architectural and educational foundations, now assimilated.
Most Greek Chileans would not describe themselves as such, but rather as Chileans of Greek descent. Chile is quite nationalistic, and the absorptive power of Latin American culture, with roots in Spain, is less culturally distant than the Anglo-Saxon cultures of North America and Australia. Further, the North America and Australia are far more liberal and pluralistic societies, and the Greek communities there far larger and more dynamically in contact with Greece. The Greek Embassy and the internet are changing that, now, and in the “Facebook Era,” I have re-established many contacts with Chile. For anyone interested in learning more about the Chilean Greek community, please visit the following website (mostly in Spanish): http://www.asesoriasculturales.cl/colhelenica/
Culture and geography have always fascinated me, and in Chile the Greeks found a California in the southern hemisphere. Chile possesses the same beautiful climate, fantastic wines, olive oil, and steep mountains longingly recalling their Greek homeland. Like Greece, and California, fault lines lurk just beneath the surface, and Chile’s beauty is a fragile one that occasionally yields tragedy such as the events of February 27.

*Alexander Billinis has spent a decade in international banking in the US and Europe, most recently in London. He is particularly interested in Greece’s economic and cultural position in the Balkans. He has worked with companies invested in the Balkans, and is writing a travel-historical book about the post-Byzantine states of modern Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania.

The Greek community in Chile is estimated to number around 100.000 people. Most reside either in the Santiago area or in the Antofagasta area. Chile is one of the 5 countries with the most descendants of Greeks in the world.

The first Greek immigrants arrived during the sixteenth century from Crete, so named “Candia” in honor of the island’s capital, the current Heraklion. The majority of Greek immigrants arrived in Chile at the beginning of century, some as part of their spirit of adventure and escape from the rigors of the World War and the catastrophe of Smyrna in Asia Minor, although many Greeks had already settled in Antofagasta.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece has activated the Crisis Management Unit to collect contact information from Greek citizens seeking any family members or other people who are in Chile.
The contact number is 210-3681912.

Nikolaos Mavridis (left) of Greece, poses with the robot

Ibn Sina, the Arabic speaking humanoid robot, recently thrilled other passengers as Emirates Airlines flight EK817 was transporting one of the world’s most advanced robots from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Emirates News Agency (WAM)reported.
A first for Emirates, Ibn Sina the robot, travelled as a First Class passenger on the flight accompanied by Dr Nikolaos Mavridis, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the United Arab Emirates University College of Information Technology in Al Ain where the machine was developed, along with two of his assistants.
Able to verbally interact with people, Ibn Sina stunned fellow passengers as he was checked in at Emirates’ dedicated First Class check-in counters and relaxed in Emirates’ First Class lounge prior to boarding his flight.
The transportation of Ibn Sina required countless hours of planning and input from multiple Emirates Group departments to ensure the humanoid was cleared for travel by the Dubai Police Authorities, the Dubai International Airport and Emirates’ safety team.
Mohammed Mattar, Divisional Senior Vice President, Airport Operations said: “The planning and integration of numerous Emirates departments is testament to our commitment to give every passenger, human or not, the best level of care and service possible. Ibn Sina embodies the forward thinking and innovative ethos of Emirates and we were honoured to have him fly with us.
“This was certainly an interesting challenge for the team however through careful planning Ibn Sina was successfully transported to his destination and we look forward to many more trips of the same nature.”
Ibn Sina safely made the trip to Riyadh where he was the key exhibit at a conference and exhibition on higher education.