According to a statement that was issued by the Foreign ministry, the meeting aimed at carrying out a joint review of bilateral economic and trade relations, as well as a review of developments on a bilateral and international level, following the convening of the plenary of the Joint Inter ministerial Committee, which took place in Athens, in April 2013.
Following their talks, both delegation heads referred in detail to bilateral cooperation, and in particular to specific sectors, such as energy, tourism, agricultural economy, and transport, as well as to the actions scheduled for 2016, within the framework of the joint committee.
“The two sides stressed the traditionally good relations between the two peoples and the high level of bilateral relations, expressing their shared desire for solutions to be found,” the statement said, “despite the current negative international state of affairs, so that relations can be developed further, with mutual benefits.”Greece, it said, “put forward its proposals for 2016’s taking on a celebratory and multifaceted character, constituting an occasion for greater development of bilateral cooperation in sectors such as tourism, education, science and technology,” and concluded that the two sides “agreed to hold the next plenary of the joint committee in Moscow, in the second half of 2015.”
A little later on, Shipping and Aegean Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis held a meeting with Sokolov on matters of mutual interest relating to investments and cooperation in shipping issues.
According to a separate report from the Greek state news agency, the Greek minister repeated his conviction that measures relating to shipping should be global and not regional in their implementation, while he underlined that this is the approach he tried to promote in the European Union during Greece’s EU presidency.
“I pointed out …that the adoption of regional measures that are not harmonised with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) will be harmful for European shipping and undermine its prospects on a global scale,” the minister said.Sokolov, agreeing with Varvitsiotis’ positions, expressed concern over specific legislative proposals currently being promoted in the EU and said that they “do not meet the demands of the international shipping community.”
The two men discussed investments, with an emphasis on improvements to Greek port infrastructure.
The Russian official said his country’s interest in both the Greek trains operator TRAINOSE and Thessaloniki port remained undiminished, while Varvitsiotis highlighted the strategically important positions of the ports in Alexandroupolis and Volos.
(Combined Reports)
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