China and Greece signed a memorandum of collaboration during the Beijing summit on Monday in the framework of China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.
During the press conference following the meeting, Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi affirmed the close ties between the two countries and pledged to expand their cooperation.
Wang Yi called Greece a “natural partner of China” stressing Greece’s key geographic location, comparative advantages and long-term relations of friendship and respect between the the two countries, ANA reports.
The two ministers discussed the linking of infrastructure and further ways to move into an alliance of unimpeded promotion of trade that will strengthen both economies.
Both ministers agreed that “an ongoing collaboration between the peoples of the two countries in multiple sectors including tourism, science and technology, education and culture, sports, youth and local government will be mutually beneficial”.
On that respect, China is already benefiting tremendously from its control over Piraeus Terminal where the group has a controlling stake.
Cosco announced on Monday its profits for the first half of 2018 which increased even more due to the appreciation of the euro, which rose to AUD$18.62 million, up by 25.8 per cent on-year, the group said.
The overall revenue of the Piraeus Terminal rose by 31 per cent to AUD$152.60 million in the first half, almost doubling from 2017 while the first half net profit at Cosco Shipping Ports increased by a whopping 70.1 per cent to AUD$231.38 million, the company reported.