With opening-up, Xi sees opportunities for Greece

CHINESE President Xi Jinping yesterday called for strengthening practical cooperation between China and Greece, as the two countries are seeking to consolidate their comprehensive strategic partnership.

China and Greece are both ancient civilizations, and should join hands to deliver greater benefits to their people and further contribute to human progress, Xi said during his talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The two leaders had met a week ago in Shanghai when Mitsotakis led a delegation to attend the second China International Import Expo. Statistics show that the transaction volume of Greek businesses at the expo grew by 2.5 times compared with that at the first CIIE one year ago, Xi said.

He pledged that China will unswervingly expand opening-up and stands ready to bring more opportunities to the development of all countries, including Greece.

Xi pointed out that exchanges of civilizations and mutually-beneficial cooperation constitute two main links in China-Greece relations.

On practical cooperation, Xi proposed that the two countries should focus their efforts on the following four areas:

First, the two sides should seek greater synergy between joint construction of the Belt and Road and Greece’s strategy of building itself into an important international logistics transit hub.

Second, the two sides should expand two-way trade and investment, and enhance cooperation in such areas as electricity, telecommunications, manufacturing and finance. China is willing to import more high-quality Greek agricultural products and encourages more capable Chinese companies to invest and start businesses in Greece.

Third, the two sides should deepen cultural and people-topeople exchanges. They should not only strengthen exchanges and mutual learning in inheriting the rich cultural heritage of their ancestors, but also make innovations from the current trends of world development. The two sides should promote personnel exchanges and cooperation at sub-national levels by hosting the year of culture and tourism in 2021 in each country. The two sides should also support the cooperation in scientific and technological innovation, including joint research.

Fourth, the two sides should jointly advance the China-European Union ties. Greece is an important member of the EU and also an important country in the Balkan region. The China-Central and Eastern European Countries cooperation mechanism enriches the meaning of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, and China is willing to work with Greece to consolidate the cooperation mechanism and jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade to achieve all-win results.

Xi stressed that equal respect, friendly cooperation, opening-up and inclusiveness, and enterprising spirit are shared characteristics of the two great nations, and also the powerful driving force for the two sides to seek development with joint efforts.

Xi will next attend the 11th BRICS summit in Brazil.

(Xinhua)