Today I attended a video conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs to discuss issues relating to the Covid-19 pandemic. The conference took place at the initiative of my Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg, and aimed at examining on our part the way we responded to the consequences of the pandemic and at coordinating our further actions in terms of cooperation between Ministries of Foreign Affairs, at the global level, in fact, as participants in today's video conference hailed from Denmark, the Czech Republic, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Israel.
Greece is among the countries that reacted swiftly and decisively to the outbreak of the pandemic and protected its citizens effectively, a fact that has been recognised by the international community. This was reaffirmed today, as our country was praised extensively for the way it handled the pandemic.
During the video conference, I had the opportunity to present how our country is handling the gradual lifting of restrictive measures, particularly in the crucial industry of tourism, aiming at protecting both our visitors and workers in this key sector of our national economy.
We further discussed the issue of repatriation of seamen who are stranded due to the pandemic, as well as the issue of handling any new migration flows.
Finally, we exchanged views on how to manage a possible second wave of infections, and agreed to monitor the situation closely in order to react appropriately, if circumstances so require.
July 10, 2020