Greece's newly appointed Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis addresses journalists following a swearing in ceremony at the presidential palace in Athens, January 27, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

"The Cosco deal will be reviewed to the benefit of the Greek people," Thodoris Dritsas, the deputy minister in charge of the shipping portfolio, told Reuters.

Syriza had announced before the election it would halt the sale of state assets, a plank of the 240 billion-euro bailout agreement. Stakes in the port of Thessaloniki, the country's second biggest, along with railway operator Trainose and rolling stock operator ROSCO are also slated to be sold.

In a separate step, the deputy minister in charge of administrative reform, George Katrougkalos said the government would reverse some layoffs of public sector workers, rolling back another key bailout measure.

"It will be one of the first pieces of legislation that I will bring in as a minister," he told Mega TV.

Varoufakis has railed against the bailouts of struggling euro zone states as "fiscal waterboarding". But after being sworn in, he said the government would be constructive.

"We are about to begin negotiating with our partners," he told reporters. "It is a great challenge, but the challenge is how to minimise social costs that were unnecessary throughout Europe," he said.