Parliament president on visit of US Congress members: ‘Opening a new era in Greek-US parliamentary diplomacy’

The Greek and American governments hold their own talks and meetings “but today we are opening a new era in parliamentary diplomacy that can further help to strengthen relations between the two peoples even more,” Parliament President Nikitas Kaklamanis said on Wednesday, welcoming an eight-member delegation from the US House of Representatives.

Kaklamanis said the visiting Congress members they were “the representatives of the parliament of a great friendly country, a country that Greece has very close friendly ties with that we would like to further enhance, and today’s acquaintance with you is the start as well of a personal friendship between the Greek Parliament and the American Congress.”

He also informed them that during his meeting with the US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Maria Olson, he had extended a first-ever invitation to the speaker of the US House of Representatives to visit Greece, asking for the assistance of delegation head Representative Vern Buchanan in achieving this.

On his part, Buchanan said that the eight members of Congress came to Greece to meet a strategic partner. “It is very important for us to come here and build our relations between Greece and the US, and the partnership, to take it to the next level. There were many places we could have visited. But we chose to come here, and are committed to this goal,” he said.

Representative Dina Titus, whose mother is Greek, said that Greece “is the most important US partner on the eastern flank of NATO,” playing a key role in the region, and that the US “is relying very much on you to play this role.” She also noted the importance of communication with Greeks in the US in order to discuss policies that are mutually interesting and beneficial to both countries.

Besides Buchanan and Titus, other delegation members included Representatives Lloyd Doggett, Ted Lieu, Neal Dunn, Ilhan Omar, Anna Paulina Luna, and Andy Ogles.

Attending the meeting at the Greek Parliament were also Dora Bakoyannis, president of the Greece-US Friendship Committee and of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs, Parliament’s First Vice President Ioannis Plakiotakis, and Parliament General Secretary Vasileios Bagiokos.

Source: pagenews.gr