A group of 117 asylum seekers departed from Greece for the German city of Hannover on Wednesday, one day after a series of online meetings between Alternate Migration and Asylum Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos and German officials, following the cancellation of his scheduled visit to Berlin due to the pandemic.
A ministry announcement said that the main issue during the discussions was the management of the overall migration challenges, especially during the pandemic affecting Europe and the entire world.
They also had a detailed discussion on the new European Migration and Asylum Pact and the German Presidency's actions for its negotiation.
Specifically, Koumoutsakos spoke with German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, Deputy Minister of Education and Research Thomas Rachel and the president of the parliamentary committee of Greek-German friendship, Gregor Gyzi.
The German officials underlined that public opinion in Germany appreciates the difficulties Greece is facing as a member-state on the front line and, in this context, the initiative for the relocation of refugees and migrants was positively accepted.
Additionally, Seehofer congratulated the Greek government on its resoluteness and "exemplary" management of the situation on the island of Lesvos island after the arson that burnt down the Moria hotspot.
The asylum seekers that left for Hannover on Wednesday included 44 unaccompanied children and 73 children with serious health problems and their families, in the context of a bilateral Greek-German relocation programme overseen by the Special Secretariat for the Protection of Unaccompanied Minors, in cooperation with international organisations, which is financed by the European Commission.
"The relocation programme to Germany continues, despite the additional difficulties caused by the outbreak of the pandemic," Koumoutsakos said in his statement, while he also praised the excellent cooperation of the two governments and the responsible agencies that produced tangible results by adopting the principle of solidarity."