The Mayor of Thessaloniki Yannis Boutaris will visit Melbourne in November in order to celebrate with the Greek Australian community the 30th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Melbourne and Thessaloniki, northern Greece.
The 72-year-old mayor of Greece’s second largest city, is also a famous winemaker and an active environmentalist. He was elected mayor in 2010 running as an independent candidate. In 2012, he was announced as “the best mayor of the world” for the month of October by the City Mayors Foundation based in the United Kingdom. Boutaris was re-elected mayor in the regional elections in May.
Speaking on the Greek program of SBS radio station, Boutaris stated that his success in his first term as mayor was due to effective financial management of the city, the improvement in waste collection and recycling, and the public recognition of many aspects of the history and culture of Thessaloniki.
He stated that in 2013, the city managed to attract about 200,000 tourists from Turkey and Israel due to the acknowledgement of the Jewish and Muslim past of the city’s history.
He pointed out that his main priority in his second term is to reduce unemployment figures by using European funds and by encouraging and supporting Greek startup companies.
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