October 3, the Mayor of Thessaloniki and the Governor of St. Petersburg G.S. Poltavchenko met to exchange ideas on the near term cooperation of the cities and sign the Protocol on the Program for Cooperation between the Government of St. Petersburg and the City Hall of Thessaloniki in 2013 – 2015.
October 3, the Mayor of Thessaloniki and the Governor of St. Petersburg G.S. Poltavchenko met to exchange ideas on the near term cooperation of the cities and sign the Protocol on the Program for Cooperation between the Government of St. Petersburg and the City Hall of Thessaloniki in 2013 – 2015. Georgy Poltavchenko supported the proposition of Yiannis Boutaris to facilitate introduction of the year-round direct flights between St. Petersburg and Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki also expressed interest in the opening of a representative office in St. Petersburg.
The parties formulated the following main priorities:
- Boosting cooperation between small and medium sized businesses; the city of Thessaloniki participation in the International Partneriat in March 2013 in St. Petersburg;
- Cooperation between universities;
- Facilitating spiritual liaison and promotion of spiritual heritage, including Mount Athos (through the Center of Mount Athos established by the Municipality of Thessaloniki together with the management of Mount Athos, which plans to organize an international exhibition of Mount Athos, with the participation of the archives of France and St. Petersburg in 2013-2014); St. Paul (theological conference on the history of Christianity and opening of a new route "On the trail of St. Paul" is planned for 2013 in Thessaloniki); Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki, etc.
- Celebration in 2013 of the 1150-anniversary of the education of natives of Thessaloniki by Saints Cyril and Methodius (the exhibition in 2013); Georgy Poltavchenko suggested that exhibition opening coincides with the celebration of the Day of Slavic Writing and Culture in May 2013;
- Participation of St. Petersburg in the programme "Thessaloniki is the European Capital of the Youth 2014";
- A joint program in the Cross-Year Russia - Greece in 2014.
October 4, the "round table" on cooperation in the field of youth policy, sport and urban environment with the participation of the delegation of Thessaloniki headed by Mayor Yiannis Boutaris and representatives of sector committees of the St. Petersburg Administration was held in Smolny. During the "round table", Vice Mayor of Thessaloniki responsible for youth policy, sport and volunteering Maria Paskhalidu introduced the concept of "Thessaloniki - the European Capital of the Youth 2014", developed on the basis of youth initiatives of the city. The program theme is "Time", the main motto is "Respecting the past, appreciate the present and prepare for the future." The management of Thessaloniki offered as part of the program to arrange an exchange project "the Youth Village", presenting multifaceted youth culture of St. Petersburg in Thessaloniki and Thessaloniki in St. Petersburg. In this context, the Chairman of the Committee for Youth policy and Social organizations Interaction N.V. Aleksandrov proposed to organize Internet communication for the representatives of youth city organizations at the end of October 2012. Thessaloniki expressed interest in such issues as studying the Russian language, experience exchange in alcoholic and drug addiction prevention among the youth, and volunteer movement. As for ecology and urban environment, the management of Thessaloniki showed interest in flower design cooperation (mentioning the efforts of the government of St. Petersburg), participation of St. Petersburg in the project “Green party” in Thessaloniki in June 2013 concerning Environment Day, creating the St. Petersburg park in Thessaloniki with the help of specialists from both partner cities.
They also discussed the possibility of participation of representatives of Thessaloniki in the Annual International Conference of Landscape Architecture, the festival "Imperial Gardens", the World Congress of Landscape Architects in 2015 in St. Petersburg.
These and other topics were discussed additionally on October 5 in the Committee for Use of Natural Resources, Environment Protection, and Environmental Safety (air control, cleaning of water areas from floating debris) and in the Office of Parks and Garden Economy of the Gardening and Market-gardening Development Department. During the stay in St. Petersburg, the delegation met with the Greek Community of the city, which decided to donate the sculpture of Cyril and Methodius made by the artist of St.Petersburg A.A. Arkhipov as a gift to Thessaloniki in 2013. Vice Mayor of Thessaloniki responsible for ecology and urban environment Konstantinos Zervas, who is also president of State Symphony Orchestra of Thessaloniki, met with the rector of Saint Petersburg Conservatory M.H. Gantvarg and the art director of Saint Petersburg Court Capella V.A. Chernushenko.