The Vice President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas made a visit to Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) on Wednesday, November 29.
Mr Schinas visited the Hellenic Club of Canberra at Woden during his trip and met with a number of Greek and Cypriot diplomats as well as prominent leaders of Canberra’s Greek community.
Present were the Ambassador of Greece to Australia, George Papacostas; the High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus in Australia, Antonis Sammoutis; the Deputy Head of the Mission for Cyprus, Stavros Nicolaou; Ambassador of the European Union, Gabriele Visentin; Defence Attache of Greece, Colonel Ioannis Fasianos; President of the Greek Orthodox Community and Church of Canberra (GOCCC), Pana Tsironis; and Director of the Hellenic Club, John Loukadellis.
On the day, Mr Loukadellis gave Mr Schinas a tour of the Hellenic Club and discussed the future vision of the club and community. The pair also discussed the local Greek community and work done by the GOCCC to maintain the Greek language and Hellenism within Canberra and Australia.
For his part, Mr Schinas said he has met many Greeks around the world, but he was very impressed by what he saw in Canberra.
Mr Schinas also acknowledged that Canberra’s Greek community has many young members, which means they will be flying the Greek flag up high for many years to come.
After his trip to the ACT where he also met with members of the Australian government and EU representatives, Mr Schinas will next travel to Sydney to speak with members of the Greek diaspora.
His first stop in Melbourne saw him attend an event at the Hellenic Museum and visit the Greek Centre, where he met with the President of the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM), Bill Papastergiadis OAM, and members of the Board.
