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Minister Theodoros Karaoglou says Romania-Greece relations saw a quantum leap
Greece and Romania are sister countries, allied both inside the EU and NATO, that share the same religion and whose bilateral relations have witnessed a quantum leap in recent years, Theodoros Karaoglou, Minister for Macedonia and Thrace, told a press conference at the seat of the Embassy of Greece in Bucharest.
'Greece has offered a strong and essential support to Romania's NATO integration as well as for the completion of negotiations with the EU in 2005. In recent years, our bilateral relations have seen a quantum leap because two-way tourism has added to the already existing friendship, cooperation and neighborly relations of our countries,' said Theodoros Karaoglou who is attending these days Romania's Tourism Fair in Bucharest.
Karaoglou said that every year, over 300,000 Romanians visit Greece.
'We very much appreciated this and we give a heartfelt thanks to our neighbors from the Balkans who helped us, by the support they gave our tourism, to overcome those moments. This year, things are totally different, the crisis is nearing end, the situation is getting normal, there is a stable government that has pursued a very good tourism policy and our goal is to achieve the best result possible. Greece had last year 16 million tourists and our target for this year is not simply to exceed this number, but to substantially surpass it. We have strong historical, cultural but also religious relations with Romania, we love Romanians and we are happy to see them come to our country and I am sure the same is true for Romania and this has been the atmosphere we have been experiencing in the two days since we are here,' said the Minister for Macedonia and Thrace.
The Hellenic Minister added that his participation in Romania's Tourism Fair is aimed at supporting the relationship between the two countries as well as promoting northern Greece as a tourist destination that could be particularly attractive to vacationers from the Balkans.
He stressed that in 2011 Romania has made a valuable contribution to the tourism of Greece, especially for Thessaloniki's tourism business.
'In the next ten years I would like Northern Greece to become one of the world's ten most attractive areas, it is a more difficult but not impossible goal. (...) I think that we managed to overcome the problems of the past,' said Theodoros Karaoglou.