It was a pleasant surprise for President A P J Abdul Kalam when his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias greeted him in Sanskrit at the banquet ceremony hosted in honour of the visiting dignitary.

"Rashtrapatm Mahabhaga, sur swagatam yavana dishe (Mr President, welcome to you)," the Greek President said at the start of his speech at the banquet hosted at the Presidential palace on Thursday night, much to the delight of the Indian delegation.

Papoulias had studied Sanskrit in Germany and the reason to study the Indian classical language was to understand India better.

"I wanted to welcome you in Sanskrit, the ancient Indian language that is related to ancient Greek, and which I had the opportunity to learn and love during my time as a student in Germany," the Greek President said.

"India and Greece were the birthplaces of great civilisations, which at a certain point in time, in the era of Alexander the Great, met and formed an entirely particular relationship between them. It is said that the importance of civilisations is indicated, above all, by their ancient history and the beauty of their mythology on creation.

"This criterion is definitely met by our cultures. We pride ourselves on Homer's Epic Poetry and Hesiodus and you are proud of Mahabharata and Ramayana, with their exceptional theological, philological and also philosophical considerations," he said. 

Papoulias said India played a particularly significant and stabilising role in the world especially during the independence movement, which was one of the most important 20th century events.

"Today India plays a leading part in an economic revolution. The economy of your country is going through an impressive boom and the innate gift of your people for mathematics has turned you into a world centre for software production and management," he said.

Papoulias said though there has been significant progress in the field of economic relations between the two countries, there was still great scope for growth.

He chose the occasion to strike a diplomatic note as well and said both the countries had been supportive on each other on quid pro quo basis.

"India has always supported Greece as regards efforts made by our country with a view to creating and consolidating good neighbourly relations, peace and security in our region...At this point, I would like to emphasise on your firm stance throughout the years as regards the Cyprus issue, which is a classical case of violation of the basic principles of international law and the UN Charter," he said.

"Greece, for its part, supports a fair and peaceful resolution of differences between India and Pakistan as regards Kashmir. The Greek government urges both sides to make every possible effort to solve this long term dispute, the continuation of which could negatively impact on regional as well as global security," he said.

Kalam, in his speech, said India appreciated Greece's efforts to bring peace, stability and constructive cooperation in South Europe and the Balkan region, which has witnessed so much of turbulence in recent years.

"We are working together to expand and deepen the political, economic and cultural content of our relationship. As a result of our joint efforts, our bilateral trade volume has grown to 620 million dollars. I would suggest that both our countries should work to increase bilateral trade to over $1.25 billion by 2010," he said.

Kalam said the two countries were strengthening institutional framework of the new agreements entered into or under negotiation on Science and Technology, double taxation avoidance, investment promotion and air transport.

"The small but growing Indian community in Greece has been making its contribution to the Greek economy," he added.