PM SAMARAS SAYS CHINA CAN BE PART OF GREEK SUCCESS STORY

Greece is building a success story, and it wants China to be part of that story, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said Thursday, speaking at the Academy of Social Sciences of China.

In China on an official visit May 15-19 with a delegation of business people, Samaras said, "Greece is changing. I want to thank you because China is standing by us and supported our stay in the European Union. The Greek 'comeback' is already visible. I would not have been here if our course had not changed and we had not guaranteed our 'comeback'."

"Greece is building a success story and we want China to be part of this story," he added.

Speaking on the role China can play in bilateral relations, he said, "We want to work with Chinese enterprises. Chinese businesses can invest in logistics to bring Europe closer to China." The four sectors he highlighted included tourism, Greek agricultural products, coastal land development, and tourism/culture.

He referred to the investment by China-based container company Cosco, which manages the container section of the port of Piraeus, saying that "Cosco made an important investment in the port of Piraeus during [economically] difficult times; now it can take advantage of Greece's location and invest in the ports of the island of Crete and the Athens airport."

Speaking on the relationship between Greece and China, he said "ten years have passed since the first strategic agreement between the EU and China, and this [collaboration] can extend much further."

Earlier in the day, the Greek premier attended the screening of a documentary on Greece (Glamorous Greece) produced jointly by Chinese television and Greek public television ERT, and was given a private tour of the Forbidden City.

This evening, Samaras will meet with the Chinese prime minister, and tomorrow he will meet with the president of China.