His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew received His Excellency Yves Leterne, the Prime Minister of Belgium, to the Ecumenical Patriarchate on December 30, 2009.

Before his departure from the Phanar, the Belgian Prime Minister toured the Patriarchal Church of St. George and finally said: "It was very interesting to visit the roots of the Christian faith in this region of the world. The Orthodox Church is one of those roots, binding together the whole society."