Athens, 29 June 2009

Ms. D. Bakoyannis: We would like to welcome Canada’s Foreign Minister, Mr. Lawrence Cannon, to Athens. We had a very interesting meeting with Mr. Cannon on the sidelines of the G8 meeting in Trieste and we had the honour of hosting him in Corfu for the NATO-Russia Council and the OSCE informal meeting. Canada has always been a friendly country, a strong ally and a transatlantic partner, with whom Greece shares common principles and values.

The strong bonds between our two countries are strengthened by the sizeable and particularly active Greek community of Canada, constantly developing within the framework of their host country’s open and democratic society and contributing to its prosperity.

Apart from purely bilateral relations, I would like to highlight our cooperation’s dimension as part of the transatlantic dialogue. We support further promoting political and economic relations in a balanced manner, which is fitting for strategic partners such as Canada and the EU.

We support the decision of the recent EU-Canada Summit to launch negotiations on the conclusion of a new agreement for a comprehensive economic partnership between the two sides.

And we just signed a Greek-Canadian Agreement on the Avoidance of double taxation. The signing of this agreement opens up new horizons for our bilateral economic relations and removes various tax barriers, creating favourable conditions for Greek companies to do business in Canada and for Canadian ones to be operate in Greece.

This agreement will work as an incentive towards further improving bilateral economic and trade relations and will help create a level-playing field for investors between Greece and Canada.

Lawrence, thank you for coming to Athens today and thank you for your presence in Corfu. I wish you a safe journey and hope to see you again soon.

Mr. L. Cannon: Kalimera. I am very pleased to be here with Minister Bakoyanni is this historical city to sign the convention between Canada and the Hellenic Republic for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital.

Canada has nearly 300,000 citizens of Greek origin. We are honored to sign this convention with Greece, and we will work diligently to ensure that it is ratified and implemented as soon as possible.

The current global and financial downturn calls for the lifting of barriers on trade and investment. The tax treaty does just that, and will benefit both Canadians and the Greek community.

The main purpose of this tax treaty is to reduce tax barriers to trade and investment. It will ensure that Greek and Canadian taxpayers who invest or do business in each other’s country will be able to obtain relief from double taxation.

By expanding the Canadian economic presence in Greece, it will help open up other markets and other investment prospects.

It will finally help Canada remain competitive vis-a-vis other countries linked with Greece through agreements on double taxation.

Here, I would also like to add that tax reductions are an essential element of Canada’s economic action plan. They support Canadian businesses and jobs in the short term by providing up-front stimulus, which helps individuals and businesses to weather the global recession, and also create a long-term advantage for a sustained economic and employment growth.

Now, yesterday I had the pleasure to be in Corfu and to visit Corfu for the first time, where Minister Bakoyannis chaired an informal meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as a meeting of the NRC, which is the NATO-Russia Council. She did this with grace and efficiency, and she was an extraordinarily great hostess.

In closing, I would like to thank the Minister for welcoming me here today in this beautiful city, and wish her well, as well as give us hopefully the opportunity of welcoming her in Canada shortly. Thank you.

Ms. D. Bakoyannis: Thank you very much. Thank you.