Dear Mélanie, Madame Minister, first of all, I will save you the trouble of listening to me speaking in French, with my very good French pronunciation. With your permission, I am going to speak only in English.
For me, it is such a great pleasure to be in Canada, in Montreal today, after fruitful discussions with Mélanie. I am not returning a compliment by saying openly to all of you what is very well known, not just in Canada, but around NATO and around Europe: That Mélanie is a very promising young Foreign Minister who is going to excel in the years to come. We will see her all the more around the world in these very difficult times formulating policy and explaining what needs to be done in the geopolitical challenges we are facing nowadays. So for me it is a great honour to come, first of all to Ottawa, and listen to her and understand her views, the views of the Canadian government and the Canadian society.
Also, I am very proud to be here today, among the Greek community, among my compatriots, and be able to see how the two worlds, the Canadian and the Greek, are being combined around the same values, around the same principles. And I would like to thank you all so much for hosting us here together. I am very happy to be here with you and I hope that I will have many occasions to return and allow me, please, to promise that I will bring Prime Minister Mitsotakis with me.