Mayors and City Managers from around the world are gathered now in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou for the Global Mayors Dialogue. It is a platform that aims to foster regional level discussions between different countries. Our Cao Chufeng sat down with one of the guests, the Regional Governor of Western Greece Nektarios Farmakis. He shared his thoughts on the potential of collaboration between the region and China, and many more.  

CAO CHUFENG, CGTN Reporter "Thank you, governor, for accepting the interview, what are some of the key insights or ideas that you wish to gain or share during the Global Mayors Dialogue?"

NEKTARIOS FARMAKIS, Regional Governor of Western Greece "It is always wonderful to participate in a dialogue. And of course, I want to thank you for the invitation for this interview, and for the invitation to be here. It's an experience to be in a global dialogue about our cities, our regions, the future of our people that we want to serve. What we want to comprehend, first of all, and then achieve is to be better for our citizens. This is how we get know how, this is how we get best practices, how mayors, regional governors cope with problems in other regions, in other countries."

CAO CHUFENG, CGTN Reporter "I know that Hangzhou and western Greece recently held a matchmaking online session. What are some of the outcomes from that session?"

NEKTARIOS FARMAKIS, Regional Governor of Western Greece "Continuing the effort we did through IURC, a European program that brings together Chinese regions and cities and European regions. We ended up and committed a memorandum of understanding with Hangzhou. And this is an honor for us, because we managed to find things that put us together. These things are tourism, our trade, our culture and research and innovation, because you want to know that our region is one of the best researches and innovation in Greece."

CAO CHUFENG, CGTN Reporter "So sustainable development is one of the key themes for the global mayors dialogue. Do you see any potential for further collaboration or communication in this field with Hangzhou or China in general?"

NEKTARIOS FARMAKIS, Regional Governor of Western Greece "I would describe it not only as potential, it's an obligation. Sustainable development is the only road for the future, because as local leaders or national leaders tend to go after development, everybody needs development, but they simply sometimes forget that it has to be sustainable, because if it isn't sustainable, then problems occur, such as climate change, such as demographic problems, such as all these things that are now problems for our cities and regions. This is why international collaboration is very crucial, so as to find the best practices around the world to cope with these problems."

CAO CHUFENG, CGTN Reporter "Both Hangzhou and western Greece have rich histories and also strong regional identities. How can these two areas contribute to more cultural exchanges and tourism cooperation between China and Greece?"

NEKTARIOS FARMAKIS, Regional Governor of Western Greece "I believe cultural diplomacy is the best kind of diplomacy. I have a saying back in Greece. I tell it to the people of western Greece. Western Greece is a region that narrates the history of Greece for the last 3,000 years, I think it is very similar to the history of Hangzhou, and we come here with respect to your history and culture. This culture and history is the best basis for cooperation."

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