Greece’s embassy in Manila on October 1 started full consular services,  such as the issuances of visas, according to the Hellenic Republic’s ambassador to Manila His Excellency Yorgos Chrisostomos Nicolaidis.  The Spanish embassy in Manila as well as the Greek embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia turned over on that day all functions which it had been doing for the Greek government  before the establishment of the Greek embassy in Manila.
Nicolaidis arrived in Manila 10 February this year, after being designated Greece’s first resident ambassador to Manila in October 2006.

Philippine Ambassador to Greece Rigoberto Tiglao since his arrival in Greece in May 2006 had been telling the Filipino community in Athens as well as his Greek friends and contacts that the establishment of Greece’s embassy in Manila  would further advance the close ties between the two countries, and would be a boon to Filipinos traveling to Greece. This is especially so since student and working visas had been issued only  by the Greek embassy in  Jakarta, Indonesia, while tourist visas are issued by the Spanish embassy.

In September  last year Member of Parliament  Stavros Dailakis of Drama prefecture,   a senior New Democracy Party political leader, brought Ambassador Tiglao together and Greek businessman Yorgos Psinakis, a nephew of the Lopez conglomerate official Steve Psinakis,   to ranking officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain how a Greek embassy in Manila would be beneficial to both countries.

In a dinner  with his wife Alcmene and Ambassador Tiglao’s wife Getsy in Athens recently, Ambassador Nicolaidis reported that he has found metropolitan Manila an excellent and exciting city to work in as Greece’s envoy.    In April, Ambassadors Tiglao and Nicolaidis were in Boracay, a world-class beach resort in central Philippines, together with other Greeks doing business in Manila who chose the island to celebrate Easter,  complete with the traditional lamb roasted in a pit by the beach.

The Greek Embassy in the Philippines is located at the 12th floor Sage House Building, 110 V.A. Rufino St., Legaspi Village, Makati. Telephone number is (632)817-4444 while its fax number is (632)817-3417. Email:a [email protected] e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and [email protected] e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The embassy’s temporary internet site is gremb.man.googlepages.com, which contains information on requirements for visas, including downloadable forms.