Greece offers perks to court investment from China

The Hellenic Republic Consulate General of Greece in Shanghai will hold a Greek Privatization and Investment Forum in Shanghai on November 30, which is aimed at promoting Greece's 50 billion euro ($64.74 billion) privatization program to Chinese investors, a Greek official said Thursday.

Greece will increase access to investment opportunities -especially in the infrastructure, tourism and energy sectors - for China, Evgenios Kalpyris, Greece's consul general in Shanghai, told a press conference.

The Greek government launched tenders to sell or lease its private and public asset projects in 2010, expecting to raise 50 billion euros to pay down its huge debts by 2015 in the world's largest privatization of state-owned assets since the end of World War II in 1945.

However, the program stagnated due to political instability during Greece's election period in June and investors' low enthusiasm amid concerns that the country would exit the eurozone.

Since the privatization program is crucial to Greek debt repayment efforts, the Greek government kicked off a second round of tendering on October 16, following the new coalition government's pledge to resume the program.

Zhang Yugui of Shanghai International Studies University, expressed a positive outlook on investment in Greece, saying, "it's an ideal business opportunity for Chinese investors, who are allowed to tap Greece's high-value sectors, like tourism and energy, at competitive costs."

Zhang explained that Greece has established a huge and deep business presence in southeastern Europe and the Middle East, which Chinese investors have not accessed much up until now.

However, Xu Mingqi, vice director of the Institute of World Economy at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, urged caution, saying that Chinese investors who haven't done full research will only suffer losses from investment in the Greek market, which is run differently from China's in terms of regulations and consumer needs.