At the beginning of their meeting at the Oval Office of the White House, the two leaders said:
President Trump: It is an honour to have Prime Minister Tsipras of Greece with us. As you know, Greece has gone through a lot over the last number years. But they are doing a terrific job of coming back and they will be back. We are working with them on many different things. They are upgrading their fleets of airplanes and the F-16 plane, which is a terrific plane. They are doing big upgrades.
We are doing trade with them. We are going to have some meetings right after this. We are going to have meeting with the staff. We are going to have luncheon with the staff. We will be talking additional ways about where Greece will help us and we will help Greece. But we have a long time relationship with Greece, they have been great friends, loyal friends, allays and we are looking forward to our discussion today. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Tsipras: Thank you, Mr President. Thank you for the invitation and the hospitality. I am sure that we will have very fruitful discussions today. I think this s a very important moment for our strategic cooperation and I am sure that we will do whatever it takes to enhance this cooperation. Greece is a strategic partner in a very sensitive region, but every time it was a reliable partner to the United States.
President Trump: It’s true. It’s true.
Prime Minister Tsipras: And we share common values. Do not forget that in Greece freedom was born, the values of freedom and democracy that we all share. So I am very happy to be here, it is an honour for me.
President Trump: It’s my honour. Thank you.
At the beginning of the enlarged talks between the two delegations, President Trump and Prime Minister Tsipras said:
President Trump: Mr Prime Minister, it is great to have you in the United States. This is the cabinet room, a very well-known place where a lot of things happened. And we will continue our discussions with respect to Greece and the relationship that we have, it has been an outstanding one, a longtime relationship. You have gone through a lot; I commend you on what you have been able to do in a short period time. I know tourism is coming back very strongly, you’ve had a record number of tourists, for which we have to give you a lot of credits, but Greece is a beautiful place with a lot of friends. And we are with you, and thank you very much and it is a great honour to have you.
Prime Minister Tsipras: I want to thank you very much, first of all, for your hospitality, and I think that sometime you will be able to visit Greece, you are always welcome to visit Greece, because I think that a lot of Greeks, the majority of the Greek people, all the Greek people are fond of the US, love your country. But you have a lot of Greeks herein the United States who play crucial role in economy and politics. You have a lot of supporters, here, in the United States. Thank you very much.
