Samaras Meets With U.S. Treasury Secretary Lew

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met with visiting U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew on July 21 at the Acropolis Museum and according to press reports their talks focused on growth and stability. Following the meeting, Samaras spoke to Lew about the symbolism of the Acropolis through the ages, the quest of mankind to liberate itself from fear and tyranny and the thirst of Greece to attain harmony and prosperity.

On his part, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that he was particularly pleased to see that the Greek government was close to completing the current program review while "taking the difficult actions necessary to sustain momentum for its economic reforms."

The meeting was held ahead of Samaras' scheduled visit to the White House on August 8 where he is due to meet and hold talks with US President Barak Obama.

Following the meeting with Samaras in Athens, Lew also met and held talks with Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras. Reports said that the meeting focused mainly on the course of the implementation of the fiscal adjustment programme for 2012-2013, the reforms and the need of coordination between the growth measures and the fiscal adjustment, as well as the issue of the fiscal and financing gap for the period 2015-16.