Conclusion of proceedings of the 12 th Greek-Russian Joint Interministerial Committee (JIC) (Thessaloniki, 19/04/2019)

The proceedings of the 12 th Greek-Russian Joint Interministerial Committee (JIC) in Thessaloniki that were jointly chaired by Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Sia Anagnostopoulou and Russian Federation Minister of Transport Yevgeny Ditrikh have been concluded.

The Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs thanked the Russian Federation Minister of Transport for their “productive and fruitful collaboration” and described Russia as a “strategic partner”, while she highlighted their common view on the need to promote investment partnerships through specific tools. To this end, in the context of the 12 th JIC, an article on the formation of a Working Group that would support these investment partnerships was decided on and included in the Meeting Protocol.

The Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs noted:

“The proceedings went very well. The Protocol of the 12 th JIC, as well as two memoranda of cooperation on shipping and standardisation of rural products were signed. Russia is a strategic partner of ours. After Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ visit in December 2018 and the high-level meetings he had with President Vladimir Putin, this partnership has moved ahead very quickly, and for this reason, the 12th JIC was held so shortly, following  the 11th in December. We have set up working groups and I would also like to publicly thank the Minister of Transport, Mr Ditrikh, who demonstrated to the plenary session Russia’s willingness to expedite the investment and entrepreneurial collaboration between the two countries, as he proposed the formation of a Russian-Greek working group that would facilitate investments, which was included in the Protocol. What we observed, which was also noted by Mr Ditrikh, was that it is not easy to have investments without a working group to support them. I am very glad for his proposal, which was accepted and included in the Meeting Protocol.

I would like to point out that Thessaloniki is a very important business hub, which I must stress, was boosted by the Prime Minister’s visit in December 2018. I would also like to note that this is also the Year of Greek-Russian Language and Literature, which will be officially inaugurated and celebrated in May, in the context of the Thessaloniki International Book Fair. Finally, I would like to state something that mainly concerns Thessaloniki, but also the rest of Greece. Greek entrepreneurs have been invited to the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, under the aegis of HELEXPO.”