Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

Greek Research and Culture Center opened at the Azerbaijani University of Languages on October 19, Azernews reports.

Azerbaijani University of Languages Rector Kamal Abdulla and Greek Ambassador Nikolaos Piperigos participated in the opening ceremony.

Nikolaos Piperigos stated that the opening of the center is significant from the point of view that Azerbaijan and Greece are united not only by diplomatic relations but also by expanding cultural and educational ties.

“Our story begins 30 years ago in 1992. Greece recognized Azerbaijan’s independence and very quickly, our two countries started to work together. There were mutual visits over the last 30 years at all levels between presidents, prime ministers, and ministers. Over the last 30 years, we have agreed already to cooperate in an extensive array of sectors. There are currently around 30 agreements in a wide range of sectors from economy, industry, energy, transport, agriculture, education, culture, etc,” he said.

The ambassador underlined that the educational and cultural bonds are extremely significant, adding that the opening of the second center for the Greek language is an important event that follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the Greek Embassy and the Mugham Center.

Expressing his confidence in the development of current and future prospects of cooperation, he recalled that this year there was already a meeting between the Greek prime minister and the Azerbaijani president, as well as the Greek environment and energy minister is on a working visit to Baku. In addition, the ambassador noted that the 5th joint ministerial meeting between Greece and Azerbaijan is expected to be held in the last months of 2022.

Moreover, Nikolaos Piperigos added that Baku is the only capital in the world that has two active university programs in the modern Greek language at the Baku Slavic University and the Azerbaijani University of Languages, as well as one for ancient Greek at the Baku State University.

“Today we are proud of the inauguration of the Greek Center at the Azerbaijani University of Languages, and we look forward to the creation of ancient languages program, where ancient Greek will be present, among other illustrious languages such as Sanskrit, Latin, and Chinese that constitute the primordial elements of knowledge in human history,” he said.

“This year we celebrate our 30 years of diplomatic relations. My mission as a diplomat is to look beyond, and try to do whatever is necessary for our relations to flourish even more for the next 30 years,” he said.

Prior to the opening ceremony, Kamal Abdullah and Nikolaos Piperigos discussed fruitful cooperation in the culture and education sectors between Azerbaijan and Greece.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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