Greece To Sign Tourism Pact With Saudi Arabia

Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni

Greece and Saudi Arabia will sign a major agreement in the Kingdom on Monday, 10 February, to boost cooperation in the tourism sector, generate growth in tourist traffic and offer opportunities to the southern European nation to showcase its tourism products and services in the local market.

Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni, who has been invited by Prince Sultan bin Salman, chief of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), will sign the accord on behalf of Greece.

“The plan is to step up cooperation between Riyadh and Athens in all tourism-related areas,” said Greek Ambassador Ioannis Christofilis in an interview to Arab News on Sunday.

The Greek tourism minister will hold talks with Prince Sultan on Monday. She will also hold talks with top Saudi officials during her three-day visit to Riyadh, including Riyadh Gov. Prince Khaled bin Bandar and Abdulaziz Khoja, culture and information minister.

Mrs. Kefalogianni will attend the inaugural session of the Janadariyah festival as a guest of Prince Sultan.

During the interview to Arab News, Mr. Christofilis spoke about the progressively growing relations between the Kingdom and Greece, its trade ties with Riyadh and its plans to hold a joint ministerial meeting for trade and commerce, as well as its proposal to hold a summit of European Union leaders and Arab heads of state.

Christofilis said that tourism is one of the major components of Saudi-Greece relations and that about 13,000 Saudi citizens visited that country last year.

Greece has also announced plans to offer residency permits to non-EU citizens, including Gulf investors, on purchasing or renting property.

Source: Arab News