Elais-Unilever Hellas on Thursday heralded a decision by the parent company earlier this week to move part of its production to Greece, as a top executive appeared upbeat about the debt-hit country's chances to exit the lingering financial crisis.

“Now with the crisis we have a chance to make products that we used to import,” Gregory Antoniadis, communications and media director at Elais-Unilever Hellas, said Thursday.

“The day after the crisis's end is not as far as some people predict,” added Antoniadis who is also vice-president of the company board.

The British-Dutch firm on Tuesday announced that 110 of its products that are currently imported to Greece from elsewhere in Europe will soon be produced in the country. The move, which will cover the needs of the domestic market, is expected to transform its local arm into a strategic pillar for the multinational group.

On Wednesday, the Greek government announced that US electronics giant Hewlett Packard (HP) will transport its goods across Europe, the Middle East and Africa through the port of Piraeus following a deal with China's Cosco Pacific.

Products by HP, the world's largest manufacturer by sales of personal computers, will be distributed by sea from the terminal that Cosco controls in Piraeus and by rail via state railway service operator TRAINOSE.

HP’s transport and shipping activity, the government said, will add up to a total of 50 billion dollars, the bulk of which will now be taken to Piraeus.