Prime Minister Saad Hariri welcomed on Wednesday at the Center House the Greek Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs, responsible for European Affairs and International Economic Relations, Giorgos Katrougalos, and discussed with him current developments and the bilateral relations. 

After the meeting, Katrougalos said: "I had the honor to meet with the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Economy, Tourism and Culture. It is natural for two countries that have historical good relations to try to develop even further their bilateral ties. It is also a good opportunity because both countries are leaving behind them a difficult situation. 

The intention is to have a common economic strategy. It is our ambition to help Lebanon have an entrance in the European Union through our bilateral policies and to develop trilateral cooperation with other countries like Cyprus. We are committed to that. For instance we are organizing an international exposition on tourism in December and Lebanon is going to be the country of honor that we want to present to the European and global audiences because, from what I had the chance to see, it is a country that offers a huge variety of possibilities on the level of tourism but also at the commercial and economic levels. We are really looking forward to a good cooperation.

I invited, following a personal message from our Prime Minister, Prime Minister Hariri to attend an EU-Arab summit that we are organizing at the end of October in Athens that will include heads of state and commissioners from the European Union. I am really confident that the economic ties are going to be even better in the future."

Earlier, Premier Hariri met with a delegation from the Academic University College for Non-Violence & Human Rights (AUNOHR) that included the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Arun Gandhi, who is a member of the International Advisory Council of AUNOHR, as well as the founder of the university Ogarit Younan and a number of members.

After the meeting, Younan explained that the aim of the visit is to inform Premier Hariri about the activities of the university, after it launched yesterday under his auspices the Lebanese National Day of Non-Violence. A copy of Carl Fredrik Reutersward's "Non-Violence" sculpture was also unveiled.