At a special function organised at the Hellenic Museum on Thursday night by the Consulate General of Greece in Melbourne, Ms Eleni Lianidou welcomed a top level delegation of European Union (EU) scientists who participated in research and development conferences in Canberra and in Melbourne. The delegation was headed by Dr Octavi Quintana-Trias, director of the European Research Area.
During the forthcoming Greek EU presidency in the first half of 2014, Athens will host the main International Research Conference of the EU from 2-4 April. The International Conference on Research Infrastructures to take place in Athens is an event of global importance, and aims to advance the cooperation of Research and Development Institutes worldwide.
It is worth noting that the European Union is the most important scientific partner of Australia. In 1999 Australia was the first non-European country in the world to sign an agreement of scientific and research cooperation with the EU. According to the 2011 census, there are approximately 1.9 million EU citizens living in Australia, whereas approximately 500,000 Australians, almost half of the Australian diaspora, live in EU countries. In 2012, there were 40,000 students from EU member countries studying in Australia and 5,000 Australian students studying in the EU, mostly in the UK, in Germany and in France. It is estimated that approximately 31 per cent of the total foreign investment in Australia (445 billion euros in 2011) comes from the EU.
Present at the function at the Hellenic Museum hosted by Ms Lianidou were the Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Mr Ken Smith, the President of the Legislative Council Mr Bruce Atkinson, state MP’s and members of the Consular Corps in Victoria.