Today, on Friday, June 21, 2013, the Beijing International Tourism Expo (BITE) was launched, in which the Synodal Office of Pilgrimage Tours of the Church of Greece also participated. At the Expo venue, as part of the Greek stand, the Synodal Office distributed a number of multimedia materials in English and Chinese (including booklets, CDs and DVDs) covering the subject of pilgrimages, monasteries and cultural monuments of our country. These materials have been donated to the Synodal Office by the Holy Dioceses of Dodecanese and Patmos of the Church of Greece answering to a request from the Synod.
The Delegation of the Church of Greece, consisting of His Eminence Chrysostomos, the Metropolitan of Dodoni, President; the Venerable Archimandrite Spiridon Katramados, Secretary; Mr. Vasilios Tzerpos, Member; and Mr. Hristos Petreas, a special associate of the Synodal Office of Pilgrimage Tours of the Church of Greece, attended the official inauguration of the International Tourism Expo, where in the person of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism Mr. Anastasios Liaskos, who served as official representative of the Greek Government and the Ministry of Tourism, Greece was honored for her longstanding participation.
Immediately after the completion of the opening ceremony, the Greek stand was inspected by Mr. Anastasios Liaskos, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism, Mr. Vasilios Kostas, the Greek Ambassador in Beijing, together with His Eminence Chrysostomos, the Metropolitan of Dodoni, who had the opportunity to visit the stand and offer compliments to the Greek exhibitors for their outstanding work. At the venue allotted to the Synodal Office of Pilgrimage Tours of the Church of Greece, His Eminence introduced to the esteemed guests all the available audiovisual material, while putting special attention on the CD prepared by Mr. Hristos Pitsilkas and his assistants (www.monastiria.gr) with the cooperation and coordination of the Synodal Office.
Later in the day, several meetings were held with tourism professionals from China. Also, a joint meeting took place between the Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism Anastasios Liaskos and members of the delegation of the Church of Greece from one side and Prof. Dai Bin the chairman of the China Tourism Academy, as well as board members of this organization, from the other side.
In the evening, Mr. Emmanouil Stantzos, Commercial Attaché from the Greek Embassy in Beijing, hosted a dinner in honor of His Eminence Chrysostomos the Metropolitan of Dodoni and the other members of the Delegation in a Beijing Greek restaurant. The dinner was also attended by Colonel Angelos Houdeloudis, the Greek Military Attaché to China and the Greek businessman Mr. Aris Argiriou joined by other members of the Greek expatriate community in Beijing.
The Agency will continue its contacts and meetings in Beijing.
From the Synodal Office