Foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis on Monday briefed President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias on foreign policy issues.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Bakoyannis said she briefed the President on developments in the Balkans, ahead of Papoulias' official visit to Croatia, and due to the interest posed by the situation in Kosovo.

President Papoulias leaves on Tuesday for a state visit to Croatia at the invitation of Croatian President Stjepan (Stipe) Mesic.

Bakoyannis said she further briefed Papoulias on Greek-Turkish affairs and the outcome of the recent EU informal summit.

Before entering the Presidential Mansion for the meeting, and in reply to a question by Papoulias on the EU summit, Bakoyannis commented that it had been of particular interest, given that "the EU for the first time dealt with something different...Europe has finally decided to respond to the needs of the environment".

To a comment by Papoulias that he had been impressed by the fact that German chancellor Angela Merkel had brought up the subject, Bakoyannis noted that "it is very important...the people are demanding that we mobilize (with respect to the environment), and this is intensely apparent in Greece".

Papoulias further congratulated the government on the imminent signing in Athens later in the week of the trilateral agreement between Greece, Russia and Bulgaria for construction of the long-awaited Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, to which Bakoyannis replied "this is an important week for Greece", adding that "Greece is dynamically re-entering the energy map".

Source: Athens News Agency

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