Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-02-11
CONTENTS
[01] Valynakis on Med Union
[01] Valynakis on Med Union
A meeting chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Valinakis was held
at the foreign ministry on Monday focusing on a proposal by the French
government concerning the creation of a "Mediterranean Union".
"Our interest in every form of substantive cooperation being developed
in our neighbourhood is a foregone conclusion and with this positive
spirit we approach the Union for the Mediterranean that the French
government is proposing," Valynakis said during the meeting with the
participation of secretary generals from ministries and representatives
of Organisations.
He added that "it is important that our traditionally good political
relations that we have with the countries of the Mediterranean be
translated into similar economic cooperation with evident benefits in
the day-to-day lives of citizens. Greece must be present with specific,
well-prepared proposals in sectors of interest to us and in which there
can be business interest such as transport, shipping, tourism, energy,
immigration, culture, etc."
The deputy minister further said that "we firmly believe that Greek
entrepreneurship has considerable ground for development in the wider
Mediterranean region and every opportunity that is presented must be
evaluated responsibly and produce the greatest development result
possible. Opportunities exist and we must take advantage of them with
suitable strategic planning to the greatest degree possible."
The meeting will be followed soon by a conferenceorganised by the
foreign ministry, to which representatives of institutional agencies
from both the private and public sectors, the business world and
non-governmental organisations that are active in the region of the
Mediterranean will be invited for a briefing and an exchange of views.
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