Athens, 15 March 2010

Mr. Droutsas: Economic diplomacy and cultural diplomacy are two significant dimensions of any modern foreign policy. Culture and tourism are connected with foreign policy issues. So cooperation and coordination between the two Ministries are self-evident and necessary.

With regard to cultural diplomacy in particular, we discussed initiatives such as celebrating 2,500 years from the Battle of Marathon, cooperation with important countries such as the United States or European countries. All these issues are very important and as I said, coordination and cooperation are self-evident in all these areas.

Mr. Geroulanos: As you know, there are many issues on which the Foreign Ministry can work together with our Ministry. Apart from what Mr. Droutsas already mentioned, we also looked into the visa issue, particularly with regard to countries that are interested in Greece from the point of view of tourism. We will capitalize on the European acquis in order for visitors to be able to visit to Greece more easily and we will facilitate their efforts in this respect. So visas are a major issue on which we are cooperating.

And also, of course, cultural diplomacy with countries such as the United States and European countries. This marathon, this series of issues on which we can work together.

Finally, I would like to point out that, jointly with the Finance Ministry, we will look into lowering the cost of visas for countries that are of interest to us and, jointly with the Ministry of Education, we will look into University Chairs of Hellenic Studies.

Journalist: Practically, which countries are we talking about and what are the next steps with regard to facilitating visa issuance?

Mr. Geroulanos: We are not talking about a relaxation of the visa regime. We are talking about making the most of the European acquis and doing something similar for emerging tourism home countries such as Russia, Ukraine or the Arab countries. Of course, there are other countries of interest to us such as the United States.

Journalist: Mr. Geroulanos, do you have any initial estimates about tourism flows this summer? Are things looking good?. Or is it too early to say?

Mr. Geroulanos: I think it is too early for anyone to give any estimates, and most of all now, when various package deals are about to be closed and at a time of major upheavals on the Greek domestic scene.

We want to be optimistic that we will be able to contain last year’s considerable drop, but with regard to whether we will be able to increase tourism flows, that remains to be seen in the coming days.

Journalist: And one last question, Mr. Droutsas. We know that today there is a discussion going on at the level of Finance Ministers but we have to wait and see whether there is any progress on talks regarding a support plan for Greece, whether it will be implemented in reality by the European Union in some way; are you already following this direction or do you think we need to wait and see if we will need anything down the road?

Mr. Droutsas: As you said, discussions are ongoing within the framework of the Council of Finance Ministers. I think we should better wait for the Council’s decisions. But it is self-evident that we – as the Foreign Ministry – will continue our joint efforts and close coordination with the Ministry of Finance, as we have done so far.