Speaker: Symeon
Job title: Diplomat
Company: EU Diplomatic LGBTIQ+ Network

About the spreaker
Symeon Keletzis is a senior diplomat with the European External Action Service (EEAS) and a member of the Greek Diplomatic Service, with more than two decades of experience in diplomacy, European foreign policy, international relations and multilateral affairs. A graduate of the Faculty of Law of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, with postgraduate studies in international law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and migration studies and human rights at the European University Institute in Florence, his career spans legal practice as a lawyer at the Athens Bar Association, work as a consultant with the Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees (IGC/IOM) in Geneva, service as Deputy Head of Mission and Consul at the Embassy of Greece in Kuwait, and senior policy and coordination positions within the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the EEAS. He is currently responsible for EU relations with Qatar, Strategic Partnerships with the Gulf countries, and policy towards the Gulf region. Alongside his diplomatic career, Symeon is a long-standing advocate for equality, diversity and human rights within the European Institutions. He is the initiator and coordinator of the EU Diplomatic LGBTIQ+ Network, which brings together LGBTQI+ colleagues serving across the European Union's external action community, including EEAS headquarters, EU Delegations, and civilian and military CSDP missions. Through the Network, he is facilitating and coordinating the Amsterdam Declaration, a collaborative initiative bringing together diplomatic, military and security LGBTQI+ networks worldwide. The Declaration seeks to establish a lasting global network, fostering cooperation, the exchange of best practices, mutual support, and the advancement of equality and inclusion across the international diplomatic, security and defence community. Symeon also serves as Vice-President of Egalité, the LGBTQI+ staff Association of the European Union Institutions, and as an elected member of the EEAS Staff Committee. A former EEAS Confidential Counsellor, he promotes equality and inclusion across the EU Diplomatic Service and helps coordinate the participation and visibility of the EU Institutions at Pride events, from EuroPride Belgrade to WorldPride Amsterdam. He also organises of the annual Interinstitutional LGBTIQ+ Human Rights Event marking International Human Rights Day in December and the Interinstitutional and Intersectional Zero Discrimination Day Event in March, fostering dialogue and cooperation on equality and human rights across the European Institutions.