Captain Panagiotis Tsakos. A man with a true love for the sea and the maritime profession, with a continuous concern for the Greek sailor and the Greek sailor and the attraction of youth to shipping in order to ensure in the long run the continuation of the dominance of Greek know-how in this industry, he took another step in this direction by creating the first private Merchant Navy Academy – Non-profit making in his special homeland Chios, under the auspices of the Maria Tsakos Foundation under the name “International Center for Naval Research and Tradition”. The Maritime Academy will be attended by 40 students in its first year, while more than 250 applications have been received.

At the same time it sent a message – an exhortation to the Greek state to follow suit. He showed that as long as there is a will, anything is possible. He made the comment because the MNA was established under the status of the State Ministry of Shipping of Cyprus:

“I hope that soon the legislative conditions that will allow the establishment of other non-state Academies will be institutionalized in Greece as well, so that the needs of the constantly growing Greek Shipping industry in terms of human resources will be more adequately met and young children of our country will be offered opportunities for development” were the words of Captain Panagiotis Tsakos during his speech at the opening of the Academy in the presence of His Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch.