George Andreas Papandreou awarded with the Medal of Honor “Lithuanian Diplomacy Star”
On July 27, Lithuania's ambassador to Greece Rolandas Kačinskas presented the Lithuanian Diplomacy Star award to former Prime Minister of Greece George Andreas Papandreou, bestowed upon him by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the restoration of Independence of Lithuania.
Mr Papandreou was awarded for his contribution to Lithuania's integration into EU and NATO, fostering the Greek-Lithuanian relations as well as his personal ties with the land of his grand-grandfather, Zygmund Mineika, one of the leaders of the January Uprising of 1863-1864.
In his capacity as an alternate minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Papandreu was the first high ranking Greek official to visit Lithuanian in 1997. In 2002, he also became the first Foreign Minister of Greece to visit Lithuania.
In presenting the honorable award, ambassador Kačinskas emphasized that a freedom-fighting and resistance motto "For our freedom and yours” passed down from generation to generation transcends geographical borders and times, and that George A. Papandreou's support for Lithuania's return to the European family has in a sense extended his great-grandfather's struggle.
