On July 16 Vice Speaker of Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov received Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki, and Vardges Kodaksian, the head of the Armenian community in Thessaloniki.
The press service of the Armenian National Assembly has told ArmInfo that Sharmazanov pointed out the importance of effective cooperation between the two countries' towns and communities. He expressed confidence that the promotion and deepening of the interaction between Thessaloniki and Gyumri will give a fresh impetus to the Armenian-Greek relations. The sides also touched on the topic of the Armenian Genocide and pointed out that the best way to prevent genocide is to condemn it. Sharmazanov stressed the need to join efforts against racism, xenophobia and fascism.
Yiannis Boutaris, in turn, expressed his willingness to contribute to development of cooperation between Thessaloniki and Gyumri, specifically, in the field of culture. He said that in 2014 Thessaloniki will be awarded the title of the European Youth Capital.