Subjects: 2004 Olympic Games; terrorism.
E&OE...........
PRIME MINISTER:
Mrs Angelopoulos, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to say for myself and I know all of the party travelling with me, how very impressed we were with the briefing we received from your colleagues about preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games to be held in Athens.
For a whole host of reasons that I don';t need to remind any of you of, Australia feels a special bond with the Olympic effort in Athens for the year 2004. I have no doubt that it will be an extremely successful Olympic Games. I have no doubt that between now and then, there will be occasions when you will wonder about that. But could I assure you Madame Chairman that that was exactly the same in the lead up to the Sydney Olympic Games. There were critics. There were sceptics. There were people who were ready to find fault, but everything came together in a very effective way. In any manner we can, Australia will be there to help and I know already you have established some valuable linkages with individuals who so successfully contributed to the Games in Sydney. We know it will be successful. We';ll be, as a team, as a national team, we';ll be fiercely competing as we always do in international sporting contests. But above and beyond that, we will hope in a very special way that it is a wonderful Olympic Games. The birthplace of the Olympic concept, the place where the modern Olympiad was reinaugurated in 1896, and for all the other reasons that we';re familiar with, that we';ll be particularly keen to see it be very successful.
Can I also present you with Mrs Angelopoulos with a quilt. This was a prize-winning quilt from a fundraising event organised to support the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney. It was a very successful fundraising event and this was a prize-winning quilt that pays tribute to the Olympic ideal and I would like as a gesture of friendship, a gesture of support and a gesture of goodwill, not only to the Olympics but also to the Paralympics, to present this quilt to you with my very good wishes.
GIANNA ANGELOPOULOS-DASKALAKI:
Thank you very much Prime Minister. May I open it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Please.
GIANNA ANGELOPOULOS-DASKALAKI:
It';s very nice. Mr Prime Minister, I would like to start differently than the text that I had prepared. Mrs Howard, distinguished members of the Prime Minister';s delegation, ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to say that I';m moved because this token that you brought to us really symbolises for us more than a traditional token that can be given from a Prime Minister to a President of the ATHOC Organising Committee. It shows more the (inaudible) that our two countries they have anymore and the warmth that your country showed to the world that invited your country for the Olympic Games. And allow us to say, for this is very important and it is a great honour to have you here because you remind us not just how successful your Olympics have been. That I had the unique chance and opportunity to be there. Not just the help that your country, they give us, during this hard everyday preparation. Not just the warm feelings that the Australian Greeks, this very vibrant community, showed to us, to the world, to everybody during the Games. But also what the Olympic spirit can create. And this is peace. This is friendship. This is warmth. This is welcome of everybody that can be from the whole world to a place that has the honour and the privilege to organise the Olympics. You know, everyday we say to our people the lesson that you taught me prior to our coming here in the President';s office, that it will be difficult, it will be tough, it will be the last moment the kind question mark, but never give up because what comes is the work of everyday, the optimism that arises around people, not just in the Athens Headquarters preparation team, but also in the whole country. What comes is what is being added everyday to an excellent work that can showcase, not just pieces of infrastructure and services like hosting people or security or sport but it can show also the face of a country. And I believe that we are in the same position, Mr Prime Minister, because you know very well how the Olympic Games, they can affect and they can really show the world the repositioning of a country in the international life, helping to do with the Games. It has to show the world what is the character of the country and of the people of the country and what they can offer, not just with themselves, but to the whole world. That is why it is very important. And that is why this unique present that you gave me that has been created from people that really, I believe, the Olympic Games. It';s so important for me. Thank you very much.
Allow me… Greece as you know, it';s a very small country. And that is why we believe that the human factor will play a very important role during the Games. And we believe that the people, they are the heart of the Games. That is why this emblem of the Athens 2004 being just over your heart Mr Prime Minister, would be an honour for us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you very much. Thank you so much.
JOURNALIST:
Madame President, can I ask you a question?
GIANNA ANGELOPOULOS-DASKALAKI:
Yes please.
JOURNALIST:
What is your assessment of the threat to the Olympic Games of the terrorist organisation ‘November 17';?
GIANNA ANGELOPOULOS-DASKALAKI:
I think that everybody knows that terrorism is a global concern. There is no country that can underestimate this continued threat for the globe. My country is preparing very very very carefully for the Olympic Games of 2004 because what counts is to host the world in a friendly country, to host the world in peace, in friendship. Remind the world that they can play together and they can live together.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.