Greece is "a guarantor of security and stability in the eastern Mediterranean and the greater region, it shares the common values embodied in Europe, and it fights for their promotion and deepening,"
President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou said on Wednesday evening to visiting Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his spouse at the Presidential Mansion.
Addressing herself to the German president at a dinner she hosted in his honor, Sakellaropoulou said that their visit was the culmination of close ties of friendship between the two peoples, and their constructive collaboration in all sectors.
President Steinmeier spoke of a period of crises in Europe that tested the relationship of the two countries, and expressed the joy that Greece and Germany have reconnected. More than the economic relations and the collaboration in the European Union and NATO, there is the human factor, the travellers between the two worlds, influenced by both, who unite the two countries, he said, citing as examples painter Aris Kalaizis, legendary soccer coach Otto Rehhagel, and journalist Giorgos Pappas, who are accompanying him on his official visit to Greece.
Steinmeier is on an official visit to Greece Oct. 29-31, by invitation of the Greek president, and has travelled to Thessaloniki and Crete besides Athens.