Washington, D.C.
By George Bistis, VOA
It is anticipated that trade relations between Greece and the United States will advance by one giant step forward when the 17th consecutive exhibition by the name of Hermes Expo 2008 will be launched the weekend of April 12 and 13 of this year at the landmark hotel and resort in Atlantic City, NJ, the Trump Taj Mahal. Not only because of the good will created by the much-heralded event, but because nearly every region of Greece is represented in this annual gathering of Business giants. Some of these regions of Greece are Karpathos, Thessaloniki, Trikala, Patra and Ethniko Ktimatologio.

Hermes Expo has, over the years been developed into a realm of tangible results in promoting closer ties via effective networking between business people, and continuing this pattern, this years event will host over 120 firms located on the Eastern Seaboard, Greece and other nations in the southeastern tip of Europe. These companies participating in the Hermes Expo 2008 represent a large swath of the business world from Real Estate, architecture, construction and banking to entertainment, tourism and travel services. They involve all types of imports and exports, from purveying to wine distributing as well as services offered through governmental agencies on the prefecture or city level.

Within the framework of this organization, five activities will dominate, all of which are designed to maximize the networking potentiality involving not only the partnerships in the process, but also reeling in new market sections that may be intereste3d in these products. In the past, dealings of this nature have resulted in the striking of significant financial collaborations such as the one arrived at three years ago between the City of Thessaloniki and the World Trade Center of Philadelphia.

Carol Brooks, the Director of the Office of International Trade, City of Philadelphia, who was instrumental in the consummation of this deal with the city of Thessaloniki will be one of the speakers this year. Also speaking will be Greek Minister and deputy director of the EU delegation to the United States Angelos Pangratis, the dean of Business communications at LeBow College professor George Tsetsekos, (LeBow College being part of Drexel University, whose president is the prominent Hellene American Constantine Papadakis.)

Visitors at the 17th Hermes Expo will enjoy many networking functions and a festive dinner during which prominent members of the Hellenic as well as American community will receive citations and awards (Dr. George Tsetsekos, Dean of LeBow College of Business at Drexel University, Taso Manesis, Metro NY PanGregorian Foundation and James Logothetis, PFEI Foundation). All these activities will be taking place within the dazzling surroundings of the Taj Mahal Hotel and Resort in Atlantic City. Anyone can attend this significant two-day event which is organized free of charge.

Paul Kotrotsios, founder and president of the Hermes Expo event hopes that this years happening will surpass any of the previous sixteen events, considering that this year, the added draw is the emphasis given to the networking provided for the youthful attendants of the Expo within the Greek American circles as well as in the wider American milieu. The Jobs Fair is a definite plus for the youthful participants, giving the opportunity to the second and third generation Hellenes to search for new fields of endeavor or seek advancement within their own field.

Feeling satisfaction for his role in advancing such projects to the Hellenic American community at large, Kotrotsios expresses his gratitude to all sponsors, exhibitors and supporters of the Hermes Expo during the 17 years of its lifespan. The purpose of my endeavor is the promotion and expansion of the Hellenic American business networking and the providing of a forum for all of us in the USA and for the further growth of the civic and economic ties between Greece and the United States Kotrotsios declared.

Contributing to this success of his venture is unquestionably due to his wife Linda and his three daughters, Aphrodite, Stavroula and Ioanna, who are at his side 24/7, along with their staff of workers. The same people are responsible for the bridge he has created between the Hellenes in the Diaspora and the Motherland via his monthly newspaper, the Hellenic News of America , published in Philadelphia uninterrupted for the last 20 years. This publication is also one of the sponsors of the Hermes Expo along with the the Regional President of SAE Theodore Spyropoulos, the US-Greece Business Advisory Council, the World Trade Center of Philadelphia, the US-GRBAC, the Hellenic American Institute, Washington, DC, and the International Thessaloniki Expo, HelExpo and others.