On Saturday, November 3, 2018, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and His Excellency President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine reaffirmed their desire to enhance the cooperation between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Nation—within the framework of the process for granting Autocephaly to the unified Orthodox Church in Ukraine—during the President’s visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s headquarters at the Phanar.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew warmly received President Poroshenko, accompanied by Their Excellencies Stepan Kubiv and Gennadiy Zubko, Vice Prime Ministers of his Government; His Excellency Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs; His Excellency Stepan Poltorak, Minister of Defense; and the Honorable Yurij Lutsenko, Prosecutor General, together with a large delegation of his colleagues and His Excellency Andriy Sybiha, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Turkey.
Immediately following their private meeting in the Patriarchal Office, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and President Poroshenko signed a Bilateral Agreement on Cooperation and Coordination before their colleagues and numerous representatives of the mass media in the Chamber of the Throne. The private meeting was also attended by Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon and Bishop Hilarion of Edmonton.
