Costis has served as the Greek Ambassador to China since June 2013. Since taking office, he has consistently paid attention to Western Chinese regions, including Chengdu, Sichuan. He stated that Chengdu holds significant strategic importance in Western China, serving as an economic hub and a commercial center, as well as a vibrant city with a natural sense of affinity.
At the same time, Costis noted that as the topic of urbanization continues to gain momentum in Greece and across the European Union, Chengdu has conducted many explorations and trials in this regard, offering many successful experiences worth learning from. This will be a key area for bilateral exchange and cooperation, and is also a major factor that attracted him to choose Chengdu as the first stop of his inspection in Western China.
Tourism is a hot spot for Greece. It is understood that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Greece increased by 50% last year, and Costis hopes that the number of Chinese tourists will increase by another 40%-50% this year. Vassilios Costis stated that he will strive to simplify the tourist visa application process within the general framework of the Schengen Area to facilitate travel for more citizens of Sichuan and Chengdu.
Regarding cooperation in the field of education, Vassilios Costis expressed his expectation for concrete cooperation with schools in the central and western regions of China, especially in Sichuan and Chengdu. He encourages more Greek students to come to Sichuan and Chengdu to study and gain a more authentic understanding of China, while also encouraging undergraduate students heading to Greece to choose to study the Greek language, an "ancient and charming language."
In recent years, with the continuous development of friendly and cooperative relations between China and Greece, Chengdu's pragmatic exchanges with Greece have also continued to deepen. Last year, more than 200 Chengdu enterprises had economic and trade dealings with relevant parties in Greece. Ge Honglin, Deputy Secretary of the Chengdu Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Chengdu, stated during his meeting with the Greek Ambassador to China, Costis, that he hopes to take this visit by the Ambassador as an opportunity to continuously improve the level of cooperation and expand the scale of cooperation between the two places, opening a new chapter in friendly exchanges.