Eyeing the future(3)

Boosting Ties With Greece

China and Greece agreed to further advance bilateral ties during Premier Li Keqiang's official visit to the European country on June 19-21, on the heels of his trip to Britain.

China is fully confident about the prospect of Greece's development, Li said, when meeting with his Greek counterpart, Antonis Samaras. Li added that his country stands ready to consolidate political mutual trust with Greece.

The Piraeus Container Terminal project has become a model of Sino-Greek and Sino-European cooperation, said Li, calling for more investment from both sides and vowing to build Piraeus into a top port in the Mediterranean.

The Piraeus port, the largest in Greece, is jointly operated by China's state-owned shipping giant COSCO and the Greek port authority under a 35-year lease signed in 2009.

China will also work with Greece to explore new economic growth points, especially in maritime cooperation. Li said the two countries should make joint efforts in developing the maritime economy and promoting tourism, and should look forward to a year of successful Sino-Greek maritime cooperation in 2015.

Calling on both sides to continuously expand bilateral trade and deepen cultural exchanges, the Chinese premier appreciated Greece's efforts as the rotating EU president in pushing forward China-Europe ties.

Reaffirming China's support for European integration, Li said he hopes Greece will continue to play a unique role in advancing the China-Europe investment agreement talks and opposing protectionism.

For his part, Samaras said when Greece was caught in its worst-ever debt crisis, the timely support provided by China brought confidence and strength to the debt-ridden country.

Greece welcomes more investment from Chinese enterprises as well as more Chinese tourists, Samaras added.