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The Greek President has expressed gratitude to Minister Lavrov for the one million Russian citizens who visited Greece this year and the hope that, in 2014, their number will be two million, stressing that this has significantly supported the development of tourism. Furthermore, Karolos Papoulias has pointed out the historical ties between Greece and Russia, saying, "We fought many times together. You helped us in our great struggle for freedom in 1821, we fought together against Nazism and now we have warm and cordial relations which we need to develop further."

Sergey Lavrov, in turn, has expressed gratitude for the excellent organisation of the handover ceremony of the Olympic torch for the Winter Olympics in Sochi in January, stressing the spiritual closeness between the two countries. "There is some symbolism in the fact that this year we celebrate the 175th anniversary of the taking of power by the great Greek statesman, Ioannis Kapodistrias, by participating in a conference dedicated to this fact", Lavrov said, stressing that the moral ideals are common for the two countries.

As for the conflict in Syria mentioned, Russia's Foreign Minister said, "The problems are very complex and no country can cope alone regardless of its power. It takes teamwork and alliances of like-minded people to overcome problems such as the Syrian issue."