The Founder and President of EMBCA, prominent New York real-estate development specialist Ilias Katsos, will also announce the creation in Downtown Manhattan of the Hellenic Shipping Memorial dedicated to Hellenic shipping and the Greek sailors who made the ultimate sacrifice defending Freedom on the Atlantic during World War II. The memorial will also highlight Hellenic shipping and sailors and Hellenic American Friendship.
The members of the distinguished panel of experts will include U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt; Vice Admiral Ioanis Pavlopulos, Commander in Chief of Hellenic Fleet; Aristides J. Pittas Founder and CEO Euroseas and Euronav; Spyros Polemis, Founder Remi Maritime; Mrs. Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou, CEO of Tototheo and President of the (WISTA) Women's International Shipping & Trading Association, and Rhode Island State Senator Lou Raptakis. It will be moderated by Katsos, a prominent member of the Hellenic community in the U.S.
Τhe NYC Hellenic Shipping and Friendship Memorial Committee has been established with the idea of putting a Monument in a prominent location in downtown Manhattan honoring and commemorating the sacrifices of the Hellenic Merchant Marine and Shipping Industry during WW II (2,500 killed and 70\% of the fleet decimated), the deepening of Hellenic American friendship through the “Blessed” Liberty Ships after the war, and Greek entrepreneurship.
It also shines a spotlight on the leading role Hellenes play in shipping, an industry that is the Hellenic Republic’s biggest and constitutes the largest independent shipping fleet in the world and the largest non-military asset of the U.S. and NATO.
We have invited many prominent members of the Hellenic world in America and the Hellenic Republic, Hellenes and Philhellenes, prominent diplomats and government officials, ship-owners, and the media.
The event, which will launch the NYC Hellenic Shipping Memorial Foundation, will take place aboard the Liberty Ship Museum at Pier 3 on Piraeus harbor from 7 to 10 PM and will culminate in a cocktail reception.
ABOUT EMBCA:
The East Mediterranean Business Cultural Alliance (EMBCA, Inc.) was established in New York by professionals and scholars, from various backgrounds and expertise, to organize and promote the professional and educational interests of American people coming from this region. Although a relatively new organization EMBCA currently has over 5,000 contacts and members in the community including executives from various industries such as the development, design and construction community as well as from the legal, banking, educational/scholar, think tank, research, art, music areas. EMBCA’s goals are to organize, promote and fund all manner of business, educational, artistic and cultural programs, seminars, concerts, recitals, performances, exhibits and similar events for the benefit of all persons in the New York area and beyond interested in the business, history, culture, activities, affairs, and accomplishments of the Eastern Mediterranean and its people. EMBCA works with other organizations to promote our mission, to provide resources and strengthen our professional and social ties among members, and to expand our membership.
Our History
The Eastern Mediterranean is the cradle of western and eastern civilization. It gave the world some of its best art, politics, and philosophy - all of it fueled by a combination of trade and cross-cultural learning. Its people, for millennia, were traders and merchants, scholars and artists...
We celebrate our roots in this region in America, and are reconnecting to its common legacy of culture and commerce.
