Basil Polemitis

Vasilis (Basil) Polemitis served as Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to the United Arab Emirates and as permanent representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi, along with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Bahrain, between 2015-2019. Prior to that, he served as diplomatic advisor to the Minister of Defense, as Security Policy Director in the Foreign Ministry, as Deputy Head of Mission in Moscow and as Political Counselor in Washington DC. During the Cyprus presidency of the Council of the EU he was president of the Counterterrorism Working Group (external aspects) in Brussels. He also served as the coordinator and contact point for the UN-OPCW mission for the removal of the chemical weapons of Syria in 2012. On the completion of his tenure in the UAE he was honored with the Order of Independence First Class of the United Arab Emirates by the President of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his efforts towards the development and strengthening of co-operation between the UAE and Cyprus. Upon his return to Cyprus in late 2019, and after twenty years in the Foreign Service, he retired to join the private sector, serving as Chief Executive Officer of VP Ventures, a venture capital and consulting firm, which he founded, as well as a senior advisor and nonexecutive officer to a number of private companies and non – profit groups. He holds a BA from Pace University New York, an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and an MALS from Georgetown University. He is also a graduate of the postgraduate High Level Course of the European Security and Defense College of the European External Action Service of the EU. He has an extensive publication record both in policy and academic journals and he is a contributing op-ed writer on political economy in the Sunday edition of “Politis” newspaper.