Visitors walk among ruins at the site of ancient Olympia in Greece. Some 28,300 Chinese tourists visited Greece last year. Photos Provided to China Daily

Nations to spur investment, and tourism to aid recovery

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is in Greece, the land full of not only sea and sun but also culture and history.

The gateway to Europe faced crisis and unemployment but has also embraced business opportunities.

Since China and Greece established diplomatic relations in June 1972, the bilateral ties have developed steadily, especially after the Joint Declaration on a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was signed in January 2006.

Greek recovery

The Greek economy has pillar sectors with comparative advantages. These include tourism, primary production and processing of agricultural products, energy, logistics, research and innovation, pharmaceuticals, metal and shipping construction materials.

The investment environment has improved with the help of lowered taxes. The country is strengthening competitiveness with the use of public property, facilitating international trade and building an export-oriented economy.

The major needs in Greece are employment, growth and exports and investment.

Exports to China

Greek exports to China rose significantly in the past three years, with an average annual increase of about 40 percent in value, which surpassed 420 million euros ($569.6 million) in 2013.

At the same time, imports from China exceeded 2.2 billion euros on average annually over the past three years, signaling the dynamics in trade between the two countries.

Contacts and relations between the two countries have escalated in recent years on a financial level.

China increased its contribution to the International Monetary Fund to strengthen financial resources.

China also bought Greek bonds when the Greek state sought help and faced great difficulty with liquidity in late 2010.

In these difficult times of prolonged recession Greece was fortunate to have China by its side as the nation contributes significantly in terms of tourism, trade and investment.

To increase the number of Chinese visitors to Greece direct flights were introduced by Air China between Beijing and Athens in the summer of 2011.

Tourist arrivals from China increased by 202 percent within the five years since 2008. Last year saw 28,300 Chinese tourists visit Greece.

Privatizations are a fact

In recent years several privatization moves were completed, including Ellinikon airport.

The airport was one of the largest urban regeneration projects in Europe and holds significant and multiple developmental benefits for the whole country.

The project included Chinese investment support, which highlighted the potential in the country's investment and was a milestone in the privatization program.

Privatization of Piraeus and Thessaloniki ports has started.

The development of the Thessaloniki Port Authority is directly linked to the growth prospects of the city and Northern Greece as a whole region, as it could contribute significantly to strengthening financial activity and creating growth for the area and its citizens.

Piraeus Port is 210 nautical miles from the Mediterranean Sea's main shipping lane. Since Chinese shipping and logistics company COSCO opened its Greek branch, container traffic increased significantly.

Traffic rose from 0.86 million containers in 2010 to 2.7 million in 2012 and 3.2 million in 2013, of which more than 2.5 million was traded by COSCO. This is a significant investment for both COSCO and the Greek economy.

Greece intends to invest more in this area as it is the southeastern maritime trade gateway to Europe and has strong maritime traditions so the industry is expected to generate increasing value for the Greek economy.

'Invest in quality'

The president of the Hellenic-Chinese Chamber, Constantine Yannidis, estimated that by 2015 the results of the cooperation of Greek firms in the Chinese market would be evident.

"The Chinese market is a huge one. It is, however, an optimistic prospect for Greek businesses, if we invest in quality," Yannidis said. "Success for our country will be the creation of the brand 'Greece'."

The Hellenic-Chinese Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1995 to operate as a civil, non-profit and non-governmental organization with a presidential decree. Today the group has about 1,300 member companies.

"The COSCO investment was the first vote of confidence in Greece. The continuous investment in Piraeus and the 'attraction' of transshipment of other major Chinese and multinational companies is a prejudgment for further Chinese investment in Greece," the chamber president said.

"However, it is necessary to expand the business culture in the sense of extroversion in education.

"The Chinese market is not an 'easy market' and we cannot anticipate that we will be able to export products to China at cheaper prices compared to other countries or to compete in large quantities.

"We can, however, invest in quality," Yannidis said.

The Hellenic-Chinese Chamber aims to increase Greek exports to the Chinese market, attract Chinese investment in Greece and reduce the negative balance of trade against the European country, Yannidis said.

"We actively and systematically promote business and financial relations between Greece and China and we are now very close to our goal, to the point that China is becoming a major business and financial partner of Greece," he said.

The author is a journalist and the head of the Press, Information and Public Relations Department of the Hellenic-Chinese Chamber.

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