ATHENS — "Greece is gradually and carefully returning to normality, along with the rapid expansion of [its] vaccination programme," President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou said on Monday, in her address opening the 6th Delphi Economic Forum.

She pointed out that this year's forum was dedicated to the bicentennial anniversary since the 1821 Greek Revolution, which led to the foundation of the modern Greek state, but was not being held in its "natural surroundings" in Delphi but in a hybrid fashion, due to the pandemic, with some events held online but also a significant number of speakers attending in person.

"It, therefore, marks the start of the exit from conditions of forced restriction imposed by the pandemic," she said.

Sakellaropoulou noted that the year was a double anniversary for Greece, which was not only celebrating the second century of its independence but also its fourth decade as a member of the European Union, which it joined in 1981. "These two anniversaries come together to form a single historical narrative," she added.

Referring to the narrative of modern, European Greece, which inspired younger generations of philhellenes to link their lives to Greece and to love the country, she said that Greece was a nation devoted to international legality and the works of peace, which had gone through much but had always "stood on the right side of history".

"A robust, liberal democracy that has gone through terrible crises but withstood and emerged even stronger. An economy that was greatly tested but adapted, reformed and is making a leap to a digital and green transition, aspiring to become an international destination for investments. A country with a long history, a vibrant culture, unique natural beauty. A people that have endured many difficulties, turned to the world with openness and has a right to look at the future with optimism," she concluded.