Dear Minister,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you in Athens today.
Our meeting, following your meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, indicates the importance we attach to the strengthening of relations between our countries.
At this point, I would also like to recall the Prime Minister’s telephone conversation with President Xi Jinping last July.
And in this context, let me add my personal experience: I had the honour to meet with President Xi on three separate occasions.
We look forward to strengthening our contacts with your great country after the end of the Pandemic, especially in view of the fact that next year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic relations.
We discussed today the strengthening of our economic ties, the prospects for further investments in the framework of the Joint Statement on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Greece and China. And the Agreement for the transfer of the 16% stake of the Piraeus Port Authority to “COSCO Shipping”, in light of the ratification of this Agreement by the Greek Parliament a few days ago.
We look forward to new investment projects at the largest port in the Mediterranean, one of the largest in the world, perhaps the most historic one, and also to the expansion of economic activity so that it operates beneficially for the local society.
We have repeatedly said that Greece can be a gateway from Asia to Europe, an energy hub with the construction, in fact, of the new LNG terminal in Alexandroupoli and the interconnectors.
The Minister and I had the opportunity to examine cooperation in the fields of culture and tourism, in the light of the beginning of the Greece – China Year of Culture and Tourism.
The Olympic Flame for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was lit a few days ago. Minister, we look forward to jointly organizing cultural events and to expanding tourism between our countries.
I had the opportunity, the unique opportunity, to brief my Chinese counterpart on the particularly worrying developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, the destabilizing role of Turkey in it. Of course, in theory, this region is thousands of miles away from China.
However, this destabilization poses risks to the freedom of navigation and to the development of international trade through our region; something that is of great interest to the Chinese side.
I also had the opportunity to state to the Chinese side the importance we attach to UNCLOS and the International Law of the Sea.
I informed the Minister extensively about Turkey’s attempt to gain over Muslim populations around the world, across all lengths and breadths, promoting ideologies such as the Muslim Brotherhood and attempting to interfere directly in the internal affairs of other countries.
I also referred to the developments in Libya. Let me remind you that China is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Greece has been useful to China in the past by evacuating 13,000 Chinese citizens from Libya in 2011 and 2014, during the Libyan crises.
I thanked the Minister for China’s stance as a permanent member of the Security Council on Cyprus issues. Especially for China’s firm commitment to the efforts to resolve the Cyprus issue within the agreed framework, within the framework of the Resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.
We discussed developments in Afghanistan. We have discussed at length, as you understand, European Union-China relations. There are many issues on which there is further room for strengthening our bilateral relations.
Finally, I would also like to make a semantic observation, Minister, while thanking you so much for being here today. I am aware that the long-running Chinese diplomacy, spanning centuries, is particularly meticulous, even when making minor symbolic gestures. The colour of the tie you wear, which is the colour of our flag, is such a symbolic gesture and I thank you very much for that. Forgive me, but today we mourn the passing of an important Greek politician, Fofi Gennimata, so I cannot reciprocate by wearing a red tie. But I will do so when I come to Beijing at your invitation.
Thank you so much.