President of the Republic, Kostantinos Stephanopoulos, on Friday hosted a reception in honor of International Olympic Committee members.

 At the reception, held at the Presidential Mansion's garden a few hours before the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games, Mr Stephanopoulos welcomed around 600 foreign distinguished guests, among them foreign heads of state, prime ministers, church leaders, ministers, ambassadors and other officials.

 IOC chairman Jacques Rogge offered a souvenir present to the Greek President and expressed IOC's gratitude to the Greek people and his trust in the preparation work by the Organizing Committee and the Greek government.
 Mr Stephanopoulos thanked Mr Rogge and the IOC for their efforts to ensure the success of the Olympic Games.

 The guests' list, apart from the IOC's "Immortals", also included Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Sophia, Queen of Spain, President of Cyprus Tassos Papadopoulos, former US President George Bush, former Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos and Archbishop Christodoulos. Other guests included Athens Mayor, Dora Bakoyannis, ATHOC chairman Yianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greece's opposition leader George Papandreou, former Prime Minister Costas Mitsotakis, former Culture Minister of France Jacques Lange and others.

 The reception was held in a relatively relaxed protocol while conversations and comments focused on the impeccable Greek Olympic organization. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was "confident that the organization will be excellent", adding he was "eager to see all the sides of Olympic Athens".

 Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos expressed his belief that "Greece will surprise everyone", while Greek Minister of the Interior Prokopis Pavlopoulos said "this is a great moment, a moment due to the place that gave birth to the Olympic spirit". Greek Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis, echoing the comments of foreign guests, said that visitors were "excited and fascinated by the effort made by Greece to organize successful and safe Games".

Karamanlis meets foreign leaders in Athens for Olympic Games

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis met Friday with foreign leaders, who are in the Greek capital for the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Olympic Summer Games.

Karamanlis met first with Prime Minister of Bosnia Herzegovina Adnan Terzic, followed by meetings with the Prime Ministers of Ukraine, Turkey and Great Britain, Viktor Yanukovych, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Tony Blair respectively.
Each meeting lasted approximately 40 minutes and no statements were made, except for Erdogan commenting on the fact that Athens had changed and saying that he was looking forward to the Games' opening ceremony.

Foreign heads of state and government pour in for Athens Olympic Games

Many heads of state and government and senior officials, as well as many members of royal families, poured into Athens on Thursday and Friday to attend the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games and various events.

Among the heads of state arriving on Thursday were Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos, the President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the President of Angola Fernando Dos Santos, the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Romania Ion Iliescu, the President of Germany Horst Koehler, the President of Serbia-Montenegro Svetozar Marovic and the President of Italy Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
Also arriving in Athens were the joint leaders of the state of San Marino Marino Riccardi and Paolo Bollini, Queen Sophia of Spain and the Infanta of Spain Elena, Prince Joachim of Denmark, the Crown Prince of Norway Magnus Haakon, King Albert of Belgium and Queen Paola, as well as Prince Frederik and Princess Mary of Denmark.

Apart from the presidents, heads of state and members of royal families, arrivals included the wife of President Mbeki of South Africa Zanela and the wife of Libyan leader Muammar Khadafi Fathea.
Moreover, the prime ministers of Great Britain Tony Blair, Kyrgyzstan Nicolai Tanayev, Lithuania Algirdas Brazauskas, Albania Fatos Nano,  Bosnia Herzegovina Adnan Terzic, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Hari Kostov, Latvia Indula Emsis, Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Norway Kjel Magne Bondevik, Bulgaria Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and the Netherlands Jean Peter Balkenende also arrived.
Lastly, Swiss Defense Minister Samuel Schmidt was also among the arrivals of foreign dignitaries.

Source: Athens News Agency

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