Ted Baillieu, the Leader of the Victorian Opposition along with his parliamentary colleague, Nicholas Kotsiras, the Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs, was in Greece this week meeting with a range of government figures.

The Leader of the Opposition met with the Deputy Foreign Minister, Theodoros Kassimis and both men agreed on the important role Greek Australians play as conduits in strengthening bilateral cultural, business and political ties between Australia and Greece.

Bailleu was provided a briefing in the Cyprus issue, FYROM and the return of the Parthenon Marbles.

Baillieu then went on to meet with Giannis Ioannidis the Deputy Minister for Culture who is also responsible for sport.

The possibilities were tabled of a tour by Greece’s national basketball team in the near future and a series of games by Greece’s national football team in Melbourne in the lead up to the World Cup.

Baillieu, a strong advocate for arts and culture, is keen to assist in the bringing a cultural exhibition from Mount Athos to the Hellenic Museum in Melbourne.

In meetings with Sophie Daskaki-Mytilineou the Deputy Mayor of Athens, Baillieu underscored his commitment to facilitating more cultural exchanges between the cities of Melbourne and Athens. Other areas of discussion included traffic congestion, youth homelessness, and crime in CBD.

Baillieu also highlighted the importance of looking for a link between Athens and Melbourne’s based Greek precinct.

Ted Baillieu and Nicholas Kotsiras also met with George Sourlas, Deputy Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament Anastasios Liaskos MP, Chairman of Australia-Greece Parliamentary Friendship Group and Kostandinos Gioulekas, Deputy Minister for the Interior.

At all the meetings the Baillieu underscored his party’s commitment to advocating and assisting in the return of the Parthenon Marbles.