Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, meets with the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, Zhang Qiyue (Athens, 4 October 2019)

The Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, met with the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, Zhang Qiyue, on Friday, 4 October.

The talks focused on bilateral cooperation issues, ahead of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ upcoming visit to the Shanghai International Import Expo from 5 to 10 November, and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Greece from 10 to 12 November.

The Alternate Minister stressed the importance Greece attaches to further deepening its relations with China, on a bilateral level and through Greece’s participation in the ‘17+1’ and ‘Belt and Road’ initiatives. He also referred to the potential for expanding the economic cooperation between the two countries and the desire to attract Chinese investments to Greece.

The Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China noted the excellent level of bilateral relations, which have been upgraded to the level of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. She made special reference to the pivotal importance of the contribution made by Mr. Varvitsiotis, during his term as Minister for Shipping, to the implementation of the Cosco investment in the Port of Piraeus. Finally, Ambassador Zhang conveyed the strong interest of Chinese entrepreneurs in investing in our country.