Brief Statement by Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos at the conclusion of his contacts during the first day of his visit to the People's Republic of China (Beijing, 04 March 2019)

“From all these contacts, both with my counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as with the head of Foreign Relations of the Communist Party of China, and the economy ministers, the Minister of Commerce, the head of the crucially important Planning Commission of China, the conclusion drawn is dual in nature: First of all that Greece and China are seriously investing in their bilateral strategic partnership. This is not occasional, it has as its guide the “One Belt One Road” initiative which the Chinese government is promoting at the moment, but there is a significant alignment of interests, precisely because we too endeavour that our country becomes a bridge between Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The second thing that was affirmed is the observation that Greece has exited the economic crisis and offers significant opportunities for investment to the Chinese side.

We discussed how this possibility will be reflected realistically in practice, and for the contacts to continue both in the private sector, and chiefly for this momentum to pay off in practice.”