Vassilis Stathakis, the Founder and President of EHICA had meetings with governmental authorities on September 23 and 24, 2019. The purpose of the meetings was to inform the authorities of the Hellenic Ministries about the International Forum “Cultural Routes” of the Council of Europe to be held 7-9 October 2020 in Chania.
Mr. Stathakis visited at the Hellenic Ministry of Tourism, the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Haris Theocharis, the President of the Greek National Tourism Organisation, Mrs. Angela Gerekou, and the Secretary-General of the Greek National Tourism Organisation, Mr. Dimitris Frangakis, with whom he had an informative conversation about the activities and initiatives of the European Historic Cafes Association and of course about the International Forum “Cultural Routes” of the Council of Europe to be held 7-9 October 2020 in Chania.
Mr. Theocharis, Mr. Frangakis & Mrs. Gerekou showed great interest in the initiative while stressing that they will assist in the effort and that they will do all necessary actions to ensure that the Forum will have the best promotion. It is worth noting that the meetings were also attended by the Deputy Minister of Tourism Manos Consolas, tthe special councilor of the Ministry of Tourism, Elias Tzioras, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Historic Hotels of Europe – Historic Hotels Europe and member of the Greek National Tourism Organisation Board, Barbara Avdi, who also expressed interest in the EHICA’s efforts.
Mr. Stathakis also met with the Deputy Minister of Education, Mr. Digalakis, with whom they had a very interesting conversation, as the new Deputy Minister was interested both in the International Forum of 2020 and in the folder of the new Cultural Route by the name “Historic Cafes Route”, which currently is in progress and is expected to be submitted to the Council of Europe for certification.
The idea of this new “Historic Cafes Route” was of the Founder and President of EHICA.