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Ambassador Michael B. Christides has been  the Secretary General of the Permanent International Secretariat (PERMIS) of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey.

Born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1949, Ambassador Christides joined the Hellenic MFA in 1976 as first in his Class and served with distinction until his retirement in August 2014. Among other assignments he served as Ambassador of Greece to Bulgaria, to Turkey and to Argentina and held senior posts in the Hellenic MFA as Political Director for South East Europe, as Director General for International Organizations, International Security & Cooperation and as Director General for International Economic Relations.

Ambassador Christides has spent more than 20 years dealing with S.E. European and Balkan issues. He acquired a broad knowledge of the political and economic realities there and established a wide network of high-level political, business, academic and media contacts. He speaks fluent English, German, French, Italian and moderately good Spanish.

He is a forward thinking and results oriented strategist specialized in event management, marketing, BtL communication and hospitality industry. In his career, Giannis has been appointed as Planning | Product | General Manager & Chief Executive Officer in various Greek and International firms.

He currently serves as President of the Board at Geo Routes Institute, Chair of the Organizing Committees at the Balkans & Black Sea Forum and AgriBusiness Forum and Chair of the leading event & destination management company Gnomon Performance.

Giannis has repeatedly leaded large scale projects and events around the globe, has been founder and initiator leading socioeconomic platforms, and has been regular speaker to international fora related with business strategies, innovation, culture-tourism-development and policy strategies.

He has served as member of the BoD of the Association of Chief Executive Officers Greece, former VP of the Society of Incentive Travel Executives, member of Meeting Professionals International, member of UN Global Compact and other relevant organizations.

Giannis has a financial background (banking marketing & management), he speaks Greek (mother tongue), English and French, and has excellent skills in planning, negotiations and cross-cultural communication as a result of his extensive experience in more than 80 countries around the world.