Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, met with a delegation from the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM) at the Maximos Mansion in Athens on July 14.
The Melbourne delegation included GCM president Bill Papastergiadis OAM and Treasurer, Associate Professor Marinis Pirpiris
Mr Papastergiadis told Neos Kosmos that the GCM “delegation was warmly received by the Greek prime minister and issues of culture, language, and educational ties formed the backbone of our discussion”.
Mr Mitsotakis was briefed on the various cultural, educational and other activities of the GCM. At the meeting attendees included Greece’s deputy foreign affairs minister, Andreas Katsaniotis, the secretary general of the standing committee of national defence and foreign affairs, Tasos Hatzivasiliou, the secretary general of Greeks abroad and public diplomacy, John Chrysoulakis.
Mr Mitsotakis thanked the GCM for “its leadership” said he “appreciated its efforts in promoting Greece’s modern image in Australia.”
The prime minister focused on relations between Greece and the Diaspora. He pointed to the new digital services such as My Consul Live, now available to expatriates.
“The new digital systems will provide faster and more efficient consular services to all Diaspora,” Mr Mitsotakis said.
Mr Papastergiadis advocated for ties between Australian and Greek Universities. As a board member of Melbourne University, Mr Papastergiadis, emphasised that Australian universities have extensive partnerships with a range of tertiary institutions across Europe, Asia and North America but seem to lack the same links with Greek universities.
The GCM president emphasised the “importance of students completing part of their university degree in Greece, something which many thousands of students from Australia are doing abroad each year.” He also referred to the “need for recognition by both countries of university degrees”.
Mr Papastergiadis also thanked the deputy minister of foreign affairs, Mr Katsaniotis and the secretary general for Greeks abroad Prof. John Chrysoulakis for the “cultural and educational camp that recently commenced in Thessaloniki with over 40 young Greek Australian adults taking part.”
The GCM President highlighted the success of the Victoria Government funded Open Horizons exhibition at the Melbourne Museum in partnership with the National Archaeological Museum of Greece, and the involvement of the GCM. He said that the commitment of minister Lina Mendoni “to expand the cultural offerings of Greece to the Diaspora is welcomed” and he expressed confidence of “more to come”.
Mr Papastergiadis underscored the “continued conversations with the Tourism Office of Greece as well as Enterprise Greece securing a foothold in Melbourne.”
He said that there were “positive steps undertaken by both governments on a double taxation agreement” and added that much work was done by “a subcommittee of Greek Australians who provided input on the agreement as well as a bilateral health agreement which would ensure appropriate health cover for their respective citizens when abroad”.
The meeting ended with discussion about a potential visit by the Greek prime minister Mr Mitsotakis to Australia.
