Athens, 14 March 2011

Journalist: We have Foreign Ministry spokesman Gregory Delavekouras on the line so that we can look at what’s happening with the Greeks living in Japan. Mr. Delavekouras, you’re on the air.

Mr. Delavekouras: Good morning.

Journalist: Good morning. Can you bring us up to date?

Mr. Delavekouras: We still have the same information: We have no bad news regarding Greeks from either our Embassy in Tokyo or the crisis lines – 210 368 1730 and 210 368 1259 – here at the Ministry’s Central Service. Beyond that, we are in touch on the EU level with our other partners and with the Japanese authorities, and we are monitoring the situation.

Journalist: Though we have had a clear answer from the Ministry, I’ll ask anyway: Can you confirm that we haven’t had any Greek casualties.

Mr. Delavekouras: At this time, we haven’t had any bad news regarding a Greek citizen, and I think that is very important. Beyond that, as you can see, we are gathering information and monitoring developments.

Journalist: Are there Greeks who want to come back to Greece?

Mr. Delavekouras: We are in contact with the Greeks in Japan. First of all, there are the regular flights – though with some difficulties – and, once again, depending on developments we’ll see what to do.

Journalist: Mr. Spokesman, I’d like to ask you one last question about our merchant seamen – as far as I know, we had vessels in the region. Do we have a clear picture?

Mr. Delavekouras: Fortunately, we haven’t had any problems there, either. The Coast Guard has made contacts, and the reports we had are that Greek seamen haven’t had any problems.

Journalist: Right.

Mr. Delavekouras: There are also the vessels approaching Japan right now, so the picture we have is good.

Journalist: Thank you very much. Good day, Mr. Delavekouras, and thank you very much.