Dear Mme. Magarita,
Dear Mme. Papademos,
Dear Mme. Samaras,
Distinguished guests,
Gentlemen and ladies,
Kalispera sas!
I put gentlemen first because today is International Women's Day. It is our day. They are the minority here. We want to be nice and look after them.
It is the first time that the embassy is honored by such a group of distinguished women from the Greek society. In China, we would say you make our humble place glow.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries. We want to take this opportunity to express our thanks for the role played by women from all circles of Greek society for developing our friendship and cooperation.
Among us today are some very old friends. When my husband was working here more than 30 years ago, he had the honor to interpret for Magarita when she came to dinner at the ambassador's place. He was working everyday on the phone with Mrs. Eleni Tomazos. And he saw Mrs. Amalia Matiatou working very hard to build up the Greece China Friendship Association. To them, we want to say: Thank you very much! We shall never forget your help and cooperation.
To commemorate International Women's Day, we have prepared a small photo exhibition on the work and lives of women in China today, and on our cooperation with Greek women here. To give you an idea of the status of women and their role in China, I just want to say that women make up half of the work force throughout the country. Our girls are doing better in schools and in international sport competitions. In the embassy here, half of the younger generation diplomats are women. And, my husband tells me that, on the whole, the young ladies have a higher education level, and they are very good job-performers.
Before I finish, let me also say thanks to the ladies from the local Chinese Community in Greece. With continuous hard work, they have won respect and friendship from the Greek society. Last December, they held a Christmas Bazaar here in the embassy and raised about 17,000 Euros for the Eliza Children Center. Particularly, I want to thank them for offering a lovely present for each lady at the reception today.
同样我要感谢希腊侨界的女性朋友们,经过长期不懈的勤奋工作与努力付出,她们赢得了希腊社会各界的尊敬和友谊.去年十二月,她们在中国大使馆举行圣诞义卖活动,为Eliza Children's Center捐赠将近17000欧元.在这里,我还要特别感谢她们为今晚出席活动的每位女士准备一份可爱的礼物.
Dear friends,
Last October, my husband and I had the honor to attend Magarita's 88th birthday party. We were greatly impressed with how energetic, elegant and charming she is at that age. We wish she always stay that way. And, we wish all of us are going to be just as energetic, elegant and charming when we are 88.
We thank you again for coming to the reception today, and hope everyone will have a good time.
Evharisto!
