In Shanghai, China, the working visit of the Delegation of the Church of Greece was completed

The Chinese Orthodox Church – 7/7/13

English translation by Igor Radev

In Shanghai, China, the working visit of the Delegation of the Church of Greece was completed. It was headed by His Eminence Chrysostomos, the Metropolitan of Dodoni, the Venerable Archimandrite Spiridon Katramados, secretary, Mr. Vasilios Tzerpos and Mr. Hristos Petreas, special assistant to the Synodal Office of Pilgrimage Tours of the Church of Greece. During this second leg of the journey to the great economic and commercial center of China, the city of Shanghai, which at the moment is considered as the global financial and business center, third in importance. With the assistance of the Greek General Consul in Shanghai Mr. Eugenios-Dimitrios Kalapyris and the General Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism Mr. Anastasios Liaskos, working meetings were held with tour operators from China, as well as with members of the Greek business community in Shanghai and its environs.

During the stay in Shanghai, the Delegation of the Church of Greece experienced an extraordinary warm welcome and hospitality from the staff of the Consulate General and especially from Mr. Kalopyiris the General Consul himself. On the occasion of the honorary dinner, the General Consul expressed his particular satisfaction and support for this first visit to Shanghai by representatives of the Greek Church. This first visit will acquaint its residents with the holy monuments of our country and thus help their promotion and development.

From both the official and private meetings held with Greek Diplomatic authorities and Chinese tour operators, as well as with Greek entrepreneurs, the need was recognized to continue and intensify the efforts of the Church of Greece, especially through the involvement of the Synodal Office of Pilgrimage Tours. It is planned to head the delegation of Greek tour operators and travel agencies at the next November’s International Tourism Expo in Shanghai.

It was also noted that apart from the participation in the aforementioned International Tourism Expo, the Greek Delegation, always under the guidance and accompaniment of the Consul General of Greece in Shanghai, should also achieve communication with Chinese tour agents and tourism professionals from the provincial capitals close to Shanghai. There are tremendous opportunities to develop the tourist cooperation with our country, having in mind that till now the presence of Greek tourist offers has been minimal in those areas.

The Synodal Office of Pilgrimage Tours (Religious Tourism) of the Church of Greece expresses its profound gratitude to the Greek tourism entrepreneurs Ms. Grigoria Vlahos (Panhellas Travel), Mr. Alexios Stavroulias (Exodos Travel), Mr. Arionas Limanios (Golden Travel) and Ms. Brigita Papastavrou for their financial sponsorship and support of the mission of our Delegation.

At the end, we also offer our gratitude to the esteemed Vasilios Kostis, Greek Ambassador to Beijing, Dionisios Kalavrezos, First Councilor in the Embassy, Ioannis Pleksousakis, Director of the Greek Tourism Organization’s Office in Beijing, Fanis Frankis, Press Officer of the Greek Embassy in Beijing, Eugenios Kalpyris, the Consul General of Greece in Shanghai and his wife Lydia, Peristera Tzikas, Fotis Manousakis, Panagiotas Faropoulo and Petros Kelaiditis, Vice Consul General of Greece in Shanghai. Gratitude is extended as well as to the Greek entrepreneurs Vasilios Kantas, Isaac Panteliadis, Vasilios Dimitriou and Mikhail Marinopoulos, but also to Ms. Angeliki Lanaras, a lawyer and a teacher at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai.

From the Synodal Office

Source: