Prime Minister Julia Gillard has invited Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to visit Australia, following a bilateral meeting with Mr Papandreou earlier this week.
Ms Gillard, who met with Mr Papandreou in Brussels at the Asia-Europe summit on Tuesday, said she hoped Prime Minister Papandreou could visit Australia at a mutually convenient time, a spokesperson for the PM reported.
A spokesperson for the Australian Prime Minister told Neos Kosmos the two Prime Ministers discussed a range of economic and social policy reform issues, including those in relation to taxation and health financing. Ms Gillard said she would be pleased to continue to share Australian experiences with Greece and further discussions are planned.
Trade between Greece and Australia stands at around half a billion dollars annually and is an area which both leaders want to extend.
Given the recent investment by China in Greece of over 5 billion euros and the purchase of Greek government bonds by China, Mr Papandreou will be seeking Australian expertise in dealing with China. Mr Papandreou said the Greek government is currently utilising Australian experts from a range of fields in their efforts to restructure the Greek economy.
President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, told journalists in Brussels that Prime Minister Gillard made proposals to further develop the European Union-Australia relationship, an initiative he is welcoming.
“As partners in the G20, we have discussed financial and economic governance and also the need to cooperate in multilateral fora,” Mr Barroso said.
Mr Barroso said he and Ms Gillard also briefly discussed climate change, and agreed on a common interest in strengthening their prospective countries’ abilities to deal with these challenges.