“Good morning.
I’m pleased to welcome my colleagues from Israel, Mr. Herzog, and Cyprus, Mr. Fotiou, my dear friend Fotis, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for our bilateral consultations in diaspora issues.
As you know, Greece, Cyprus and Israel have created a trilateral cooperation mechanism that promotes peace and stability in the Southeastern Mediterranean.
Just a few days ago, our three countries signed the agreement on the construction of the EastMed pipeline. A project of great importance, not just for the Southeastern Mediterranean, but also for Europe as a whole. A project that reaffirms our will to promote peace, stability and cooperation in our region.
In this context, our cooperation with Cyprus and Israel on diaspora issues promotes friendship and brotherhood among our peoples. All three countries have large and dynamic diasporas of which they are proud and with which they try to systematically maintain strong ties of unity and solidarity.
We are trying to promote this link through our trilateral cooperation – through programmes that will bring the members of our diasporas, and young people in particular, closer together so they can get to know each other better and discover all the things they have in common.
In this context, last summer we held a joint visit of young members of our diasporas to all three of our countries, where they had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the culture, traditions and institutions of the three states.
It is a very successful programme that we plan to continue and enrich. We are also planning to hold joint events in third countries where the diaspora communities of our three countries have a particularly positive impact on local society.
In close I would like to once again thank the Secretary General for Greeks Abroad, Professor Ioannis Chrysoulakis, the staff of our General Secretariat, who work passionately to implement the programmes – and without them, none of this would have been possible – and my own team for the excellent preparation of today’s discussion.”
January 13, 2020