Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-07-29

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Tourism minister meets with Ecumencial Patriarch

[02] Japanese maritime training vessel to vist Piraeus port next week

[01] Tourism minister meets with Ecumencial Patriarch

The minister also visited the School of Theology in Halki, expressing the wish that the school will re-open in comments he wrote in the guest book.

The Bishop of Moschonissia Apostolos was there to greet Avramopoulos, who was accompanied by Mehmet Duman, advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the Greek General Consul in Istanbul Alexis Alexandris.

While in Halki, Avramopoulos and Aristidis Kalogeropoulos, President of the Greek National Tourism Organisation (EOT), visited St. Nicholas Church which was recently refurbished and praised Georgios Gyftakis for making it possible.

Avramopoulos also spoke at an event held by the Turkish Association of Tour Operators in his honour, noting the special role the tourism industry plays in developing Greek-Turkish ties.

During an interview on Turkish television, the Greek minister reiterated the great benefits generated through Greek-Turkish cooperation not only in tourism, but in every sector. He announced that he's working on overcoming bureaucratic difficulties regarding Turkish tourists in Greece.

[02] Japanese maritime training vessel to vist Piraeus port next week

Aboard the vessel will be 161 cadets who in the future will man merchant ships and will be trained in ocean-going travel.

The Seiunmaru is due to arrive in Piraeus on Monday, August 1, and remain there until Saturday, August 6.

The vessel left Japan on June 18 for a 75-day trip that will include visits to the US, the Panama Canal, Greece, Spain, the Suez Canal and Indonesia. Pireaus is the third port of call after San Diego (in the US) and Barcelona (Spain).

On the day of the ship's arrival, its captain will call on the mayor of Piraeus, and also host a reception attended by officials from Greece's merchant marine ministry, the Piraeus Port Authority, and shipowners, for an exchange of views.

Greece and Japan, two countries with a long maritime tradition, also share close ties of friendship, according to the embassy announcement.

Japan is also a regular participant, with a strong contingent, at the Poseidonia international shipping exhbition that is held in Pireaus every two years, and the promotion of friendship and exchange of views among cadets of the two countries is of great importance, according to the embassy announcement.

It added that the Japanese embassy's desire was to contribute to the greatest possible degree to the development of the cooperation between the two countries.

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