Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, received Greece’s highest civilian honour on Tuesday for his efforts in developing a COVID-19 vaccine that has saved millions of lives in Greece and internationally.

Bourla was awarded the medal of the Golden Cross of the Order of the Redeemer by Greek President, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, at a ceremony at the presidential mansion in Athens.

The Order of the Redeemer is the most important Greek Order and is awarded to Greek citizens who have distinguished themselves in defending the interests of their country or have provided exceptional social services in Greece or abroad. 

READ MORE: Pfizer’s Greek CEO, Albert Bourla, wins $1 million Genesis Prize for vaccine development.

As she handed Bourla his honour, Sakellaropoulou hailed his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic and said he “gave humanity the space to face the pandemic.”

“His path is the chronicle of the victory of science in the field of health, for the benefit of the common good,” Sakellaropoulou said in her address about the Thessaloniki-born CEO.

“Hailing from a family of Holocaust survivors, he was able to realise his vision and apply scientific innovations that led to the discovery of the [COVID-19] vaccine, allowing the whole world to believe that the impossible was possible.”

READ MORE: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla discusses journey to deliver COVID vaccine and investing in Greek youth.

Bourla responded that this distinction was “the most important” he has ever received as “it comes from the homeland and the Greek State.”

“I am very lucky to find myself in this position and be able to help,” he said.

Bourla has always shown a keen interest in Greece having already opened, among other things, two Pfizer research centres in Thessaloniki.

READ MORE: Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla, says fourth COVID-19 vaccine will be needed.

Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has hailed Greece’s early repayment of the last instalment of its bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In a Tweet on Tuesday, Mitsotakis said the repayment was the “end of an era… that Greeks should not and will never live again.”

“The government… closes a bleak chapter that opened in March 2010,” Mitsotakis added, referring to the date of the Greek debt restructuring and the start of a string of bailout loans from the eurozone and the IMF, totalling 280 billion euros.

Mitsotakis’ post on Twitter came after Greek Finance Minister, Christos Staikouras, announced on Monday that Greece “concluded the repayment of its debts to the IMF.”

Staikouras hailed the early payment as “a very positive development” that would mean significant savings in debt servicing costs totalling 230 million euros.

READ MORE: Greece completes early repayment of bailout loans to IMF.

Between 2010 and 2018, three successive bailouts totalling some 260 billion euros prevented Greece from going bankrupt and exiting the shared euro currency.

Despite exiting the bailout program in 2018, Greece remains under an enhanced surveillance program created by European lenders to monitor spending, an arrangement due to end later this year.

READ MORE: European Union approves early repayment plan of Greek bailout loans to IMF.

Source: Ekathimerini.

The foreign ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Israel reiterated on Tuesday their commitment to a ‘strategic alliance’ of the three nations, pledging to expand energy cooperation in an otherwise turbulent region.

The trilateral summit in Athens was hosted by Greece’s FM, Nikos Dendias, and was attended by his Cypriot and Israeli counterparts, Ioannis Kasoulides and Yair Lapid.

Dendias held separate talks with Kasoulides and Lapid, after which the three had a joint meeting.

READ MORE: Energy security, Turkey main focus of Israeli President’s visit to Cyprus.

At a joint news conference following the talks, Dendias spoke of the “unbreakable nature” of the trilateral cooperation, and stressed the three nation’s desire to enhance energy cooperation amid the current Ukraine crisis.

“Our three countries can and should be part of the solution of Europe’s quest for diversified, secure and cleaner energy supply from the Levantine corridor,” the Cypriot Foreign Minister added.

Cyprus, Greece and Israel have agreed to build the world’s longest and deepest underwater power cable that will traverse the Mediterranean seabed and link their electricity grids. The project, called the Euro-Asia interconnector, is expected to be completed by 2024.

Kasoulides said Cyprus, Greece and Israel are “proceeding” with this project, as well as the EastMed Pipeline, after receiving “significant support from the EU and the US.”

READ MORE: Israel, Cyprus, Greece secure $736 million in EU funding for power cable link.

“We are confident that when materialised they will have an added practical and geostrategic value for the Eastern Mediterranean and the European Union,” Kasoulides said.

During the press conference, all three foreign ministers also condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Dendias in particular said war crimes were being perpetrated in the city of Mariupol, where a large number of ethnic Greeks reside.

Source: Cyprus Mail.