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Pavlopoulos thanks Albanian counterpart for granting nationality to Archbishop Anastasios

President of the Republic Prokopios Pavlopoulos called his Albanian counterpart Ilir Meta on the telephone on Tuesday and thanked him for granting Albanian nationality to the Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and all Albania Anastasios, the head of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania.

Pavlopoulos noted that the Albanian president's initiative "is one more significant step in the direction of the further substantial improvement of relations between Greece and Albania."
The president's call followed a telephone call by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias to Meta over the same issue on Christmas Day.
Kotzias had asked that Archbishop Anastasios be granted Albanian nationality in a recent meeting with his Albanian counterpart Ditmir Bushati in Crete in early November. The Greek foreign minister also hailed the decision in a tweet on Christmas Eve, welcoming it as a "recognition of [Anastasios'] deeply humanitarian work and a strengthening of trust between our peoples."