Samaras invites Chinese to join ‘Greek success story’
Greek Prime Antonis Samaras invited the Chinese business community to invest in Greece and take part in the “Greek success story” during an official trip to China where he is scheduled to hold talk with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang.
Speaking at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, Samaras noted that while Greece had restored its credibility, the damage done to the country’s economy due to the ongoing crisis had led the country’s GDP to shrink by 25 percent and the unemployment rate to reach the 27 percent mark.
In his speech Samaras emphasized the importance of developing long-term strategic ties between Greece and China. The two countries have a shared notion of history, noted Samaras, adding that he would like China and Greece to have a common future. He added that there was ground for collaboration in the fields of infrastructure and tourism, among others.
Besides Beijing, Samaras is expected to visit the cities of Hangzhou and Shanghai.
In China, the premier is accompanied by 50 Greek businessmen from various sectors of the economy and representatives of the country’s privatization fund.
Samaras is scheduled to wrap-up his visit to China on Sunday, when he is scheduled to fly to Azerbaijan to discuss the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) with the country’s government.
Azerbaijan’s state oil compay SOCAR is one of the contenders for the acquisition of Greece’s natural gas network operator, DESFA.
