On the evening of March 27, 2023, His Excellency Mr. Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission, had a meeting with the representatives of the expatriate organizations and associations of Alexandria, as part of his official visit to Egypt.
His Excellency Mr. Schinas arrived by road from Cairo to the facilities of the historical Hellenic Naval Club of Alexandria (ENOA), where he attended a dinner, offered in his honor by the Egyptian Chamber of Commerce of Alexandria.
The distinguished visitor was duly addressed by the Honorable President of ENOA and the Association of Greek Scientists of Alexandria Ms. Lilika-Irini Thlivitis, and she gave him a commemorative silver tray; His Eminence Panteleimon Metropolitan of Naucratis Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod, as the representative of His Beatitude Theodoros II, Patriarch of Alexandria, who is on a missionary journey in the Congo and Mr. Ahmed El Wakil, President of the Egyptian Chamber of Commerce of the Great City.
In his reply, the Vice-President of the European Commission expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome and declared both the EU’s strong interest in further strengthening its relations with the Egyptian state, as well as its undiminished support for the ancent Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa and Hellenism in Egypt, underlining their role as great centuries-old ambassadors of the Greek spirit and as unbreakable links of stable cooperation of the E.U. with the Land of the Nile.
During the dinner, Mr. Schinas had a private conversation with His EMinence Panteleimon Metropolitan of Naucratis concerning the multilateral work of the Patriarchate in Africa in general and the obstacles arising from it.
Apart from the aforementioned persons, the dinner was attended, His Excellency the Ambassador of the European Union in Cairo Mr. Christian Berger, the Honourable Consul General of Greece in Alexandria Mr Athanasios Kotsionis, the Honourable Chairman of the Greek Community of Alexandria Mr. Andreas Vafiadis, members of the Egyptian Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Entrepreneurs and high ranking associates of the Vice President of the European Commission from Brussels.