Cities sign twinning agreement
Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis on Thursday signed a twinning agreement with his New York City counterpart Eric Adams with the aim of fostering cooperation and the exchange of good practices between the two cities.
“From the Parthenon to the Statue of Liberty and from Astoria to Koukaki, we are proud to offer the opportunity to the thousands of New York Greeks to see their beloved capitals come even closer together,” Bakoyannis said during the ceremony at Athens City Hall.
“Although the two cities are divided by an ocean, they are brought together by democracy, culture and [shared] values,” he said.
Adams, who took office in January, arrived in Athens on Wednesday for a two-day visit during which he headlined the second annual mayors’ summit of a group called the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
The memorandum signed between the two mayors Thursday, three months after their first meeting in the US in August, strengthens cooperation between the two cities, formalizing the exchange of know-how and best practices in a wide range of critical areas that include tourism, environmental protection, technological innovation, culture and the fight against social inequalities. On Tuesday, Adams rolled out a contentious plan to allow more mentally ill homeless people to be hospitalized, even if they refuse, in order to tackle “a crisis we see all around us.”
During the meeting at City Hall, Adams was briefed on the digital services available to municipal residents and the overhaul of the capital’s garbage collection system.
“There’s so much we can learn from each other. We want to duplicate the same successes; the cleanliness of the city, the feeling that your citizens believe the government is responding to them and understands the issues that impact them,” Adams said.
“I believe there’s nothing more exciting than the city of Athens and the city of New York coming together and becoming partners as we become a symbol for all the cities across the globe that are looking to solve the same problems,” he said.
Later on Thursday, Adams was received by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou at the Presidential Mansion. In her comments, Sakellaropoulou lauded the achievements of diaspora Greeks in the United States, describing the Greek-American community as a “link” connecting the two countries. Picking up on Wednesday’s theme, she warned against the revival of antisemitism. “It is our moral duty to turn memory into action,” she said.
Adams also visited the ancient Parthenon Temple atop the Acropolis hill. He was later scheduled to fly to Qatar in what has been cast as a fact-finding mission at the 2022 World Cup, with NYC/New Jersey being one of the 11 US host sites for the 2026 World Cup.
