Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos’ contacts in China (Beijing, 25-27 April 2019)

In the context of his sojourn in China, where he is accompanying Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Head of the Greek delegation in the 2nd “Belt and Road” Summit, Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos had a number of contacts with participants and local officials.

More specifically, during his meeting with M.Šefčovič, Vice President and Commissioner on the European Commission for the Energy Union, the Minister of Foreign Affairs had the opportunity to detail to his interlocutor Greece's strategy for combining the Chinese BRI with EU connectivity policies, in the framework of the country’s new economic model as a bridge linking three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa.

This was followed by a meeting with the Venezuela’s Minister of Finance, S. Zerpa, to whom the Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed that elections represent the sole way out of the crisis in order for the people of Venezuela to decide on their own fate. He also stressed that Greece has promoted the need for diplomatic effort towards this end to the EU, which it continues to do.

Finally, the Minister of Foreign Affairs participated in the institutional forum “Trade connectivity” which is organised in the context of the aforementioned Summit Meeting. The latter's intervention on the panel that examines the importance of improving the business environment for sustainable growth focused on the need to combine sustainable development not only with environmental protection, but also with social justice.