On November 9, Ambassador Zou Xiaoli met with Vice President Song Jingwu of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and his delegation.

Ambassador Zou briefed that the Chinese Embassy in Greece has been actively involved in preparing for the 1st Chinese-Hellenic Cities Forum and has jointly held a press conference with the Greek Ministry of Interior and the Amphictyony of Ancient Greek Cities. Ambassador Zou thanked the CPAFFC for organizing Chinese provinces and municipalities to participate in the Forum and believed it will be successful in establishing an important platform for cooperation of mutual benefit and win-win result between local governments of China and Greece in the fields of business, culture, tourism and education, etc.

Vice President Song Jingwu said that the Chinese-Hellenic Cities Forum was initiated by the CPAFFC and the Amphictyony of Ancient Greek Cities when President Ilias Psinakis of the latter, Mayor of Marathon, visited Beijing in May, under the recommendation of Ambassador Zou. This initiative has been met with warm response and attracted more than 80 Chinese local leaders and representatives of different sectors from 8 provinces and 14 municipalities to Greece to attend the Forum. The CPAFFC would like to work closely with the Chinese Embassy in Greece and the Amphictyony of Ancient Greek Cities to ensure the Forum will proceed smoothly and achieve fruitful results. In order to further promote people-to-people exchanges and mutual understanding between our two countries, the CPAFFC would also like to invite Greek delegations of youths and media to visit China.