| | | 17th International Logistics Congress Closing Remarks
 |
|
In closing this successful 17th International Logistics Congress, I would like to present a short review and evaluation. The Congress started officially yesterday and was supported by the presence of political, governmental, and business members who stressed the importance of logistics and their implementation challenges in the Greek reality in a global environment. |
|
| . | "Thessaloniki is the crossroad of Balkan and European cooperation for the upgrade of the transportation of products and their distribution, providing new business opportunities to the companies adopting logistics systems," stated the Mayor of Thessaloniki, Mr. Vasilis Papageorgopoulos, in the official opening of the Congress. |
|
| . | According to Mr. Lampropoulos, the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, "a specific framework of logistics implementation in agriculture must be set." |
|
| . | The Minister of Defense, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos, announced the interest of the Ministry concerning logistics in several areas from alpha to omega, and specifically in the development of an integrated support system for the three branches, starting from the military hospitals operation. |
|
| . | Additionally, Mr. Zaharopoulos, consultant to Athens 2004, referred to plans and actions of the organizing committee of the Olympic games in order to cover transportation, storage, procurement, delivery, security, and further logistics requirements in the pre, during, and post implementation stages of the Olympic games. |
|
Several interesting aspects of logistics practices were presented by keynote speakers at the plenary sessions. The presentation of papers took place in three parallel sessions covering eight different topics in logistics. Although there were a large number of papers and time pressure, the audience attended and participated with great interest in learning the results of research of the scientists and business experts. Questions and discussions followed and triggered ideas for future research and applications, whereas the exchange of opinions and the acquaintance of the participants formed the basis for future cooperation between them. |
|
Apart from the two days where papers were presented, additional activities took place -- in particular, a panel was organized by SOLE and the Ministry of Agriculture, focusing on logistics opportunities and challenges in the agriculture sector. Tutorials in specific areas of logistics were held where distinguished experts from the area of logistics provided their expertise. |
|
In conclusion, I would like to express my gratitude to all the volunteers who contributed to the success of the Congress, as well as the participants who attended the event, although the global circumstances were anything but positive. The fact that the cancellations were very few makes the success of this Congress even greater. I believe that this Congress should not close with a "goodbye" but with a "hello," since we believe that all participants will now join as members of a dynamic cooperative logistics community. |
|
given on October 20, 2001 at Thessaloniki, original: English - Paper version in SOLEtech , December 2001 |
|
last update: December 17, 2001 |
|
|
| | |
