Andrew A. Athens, President of the World Council of Hellenes (SAE) will travel to the Republics of Georgia and Armenia beginning October 17 to the 23rd to participate in the inauguration ceremonies of renovations projects conducted by SAEοΏ½s Primary Health Care Initiative through funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 

SAE presently operates clinics, nursesοΏ½ stations and medical mobile units in Armenia and Georgia that are conducting more than 25,000 patient services per month.  In Armenia, SAE is renovating four health posts and restoring two pipelines in villages that have no fresh water source.  Eight health posts in the Tsalka region of Georgia have already been renovated.

Accompanying Mr. Athens is Dr. Charles Kanakis, Jr. Director of Medical Affairs of SAE and Regional Medical Director, Dr. Roland Stamatov whose is head of SAEοΏ½s regional management team based in Tbilisi, Georgia.  During his stay, Mr. Athens will also meet with the President of the Hellenic Federation in Georgia, Mr. Kyriakos Iordanides and leaders of the Hellenic business community in Georgia.

Meetings with Georgian officials, including the President of the Republic Mikhail Shakasvili, Ministers of Health, Ethnic Affairs as well as the Ambassadors to Georgia from Greece and the United States are also being arranged.  Mr. Athens will also meet with local representatives from Counterpart International and International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), two of the many humanitarian organizations that SAE collaborates with regarding the PHCI.

Prior to his visit to Georgia, Mr. Athens will be accompanying a delegation from the American Jewish Committee (AJC) to Greece, headed by David Harris, AJC Executive Director.  The AJC is touring the Balkans and has included Greece to meet with Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Petros Molyviatis and Ms. Marieta Yiannakou-Koutsikou, Minister of National Education and Religious Affairs as well as Ms. Dora Bakoyianni, Mayor of Athens and Mr. George Papandreou, leader of the PASOK party.  Mr. Athens and the AJC delegation will also meet with Mr. Thomas Miller, US Ambassador to Greece.

In May, the AJC honored Andrew A. Athens awarding him the first ever, Intergroup Relations Citation in recognition of his exceptional leadership and extraordinary efforts over the last three decades in forging bonds of friendship and understanding between Greek-American and Jewish-American communities, the worldwide Greek and Jewish Diasporas and supporting diplomatic relations between the Hellenic Republic and the State of Israel.

One of the most important collaborations between SAE and AJC was in the official recognition of His Holiness Patriarch Irineos of Jerusalem.  The support of the Jewish community abroad played a significant role in this endeavor.  SAE and ACJ have also collaborated on the care of Jewish families in Georgia. SAEοΏ½s PHCI provides on-going medical care to the Jewish community living in the capital city of Tbilisi and has distributed humanitarian aid to poor Jewish families and the elderly.