China's top political advisor stresses trade ties with Greece

China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin on Monday said China attaches great importance to the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Greece, and made new proposals to strengthen bilateral trade cooperation. Addressing a welcome banquet held by the Greek business circle in Athens, Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said mutual political trust between China and Greece had been steadily deepened and bilateral cooperation in various fields have been expanding since 2006, when the two countries established comprehensive strategic partnership. Noting that Greece offered precious help for the successful holding of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and China's pullout of its citizens from Libya, Jia said the Greek government has provided unswerving support to China on issues of the country's major concerns. Economic and trade cooperation serves as an important basis for the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Greece, and an important source of momentum for the continuous development of bilateral ties, he said. According to Jia, Sino-Greek trade surged to 4.35 billion U.S. dollars in total trade volume in 2010, up 18.4 percent year on year. He said the mutual investments between China and Greece is very active, adding that Greece' investments in China have so far reached close to 100 million U.S. dollars, while China's investments in Greece have reached 500 million U.S. dollars. Jia said during his visit to Greece, the two governments and enterprises from both countries will sign a series of documents and contracts on mutual cooperation. He hoped that both sides will deepen mutual understanding, and enhance their all-round and high-level collaboration in various fields. Noting that the world financial market is still volatile, and the impacts of the world financial crisis have not yet passed while new problems surfaced, Jia said the recovery of the world economy still faces many difficulties and challenges. He said China, as a responsible world power, has in recent years implemented effective measures to address the huge impact of the world financial crisis, and was among the first countries in the world to walk back onto the path of economic recovery. He said he believes that Greek people could also work with the government in order to tide over their current economic difficulties. Jia said China is now a completely open country with a market economy, and has become a major force in spurring regional and world economic development. China's opening-up has not only benefited its 1.3 billion citizens, but also citizens from all over the world, he said. He said China would speed up implementation of its "go-out" strategy, to lead competitive Chinese enterprises to invest overseas in an orderly manner, and to actively engage in investments and cooperative projects which are conducive to the improvement of local infrastructure and people's lives. The Chinese political advisor said the 40 Chinese entrepreneurs accompanying him during his Greek visit have come to seek to fulfill this exact purpose. In the meantime, Jia said economic and trade cooperation between China and Greece has enjoyed a relatively sound basis, and that more opportunities of collaboration arise as both countries are seeking closer cooperation. China is ready to join hands with Greece to tap the country's potential through cooperation, and seek new ways of collaboration in various fields, Jia said. For that purpose, Jia said both sides should actively push forward an all-round cooperation in the ocean shipping sector, promote a balanced development in bilateral trade, deepen bilateral collaboration in tourism, and explore new grounds for cooperation in areas such as the new energy sector. Jia stressed that a prosperous, stable Europe is of great importance to the world's stability and development, as well as to the healthy, stable development of the Chinese economy. China supports the financial stabilization measures implemented by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and has done its best to help European countries counter the current debt crisis, he said. China has been a long-term investor in the sovereign debt market of Europe, and it will continue to support Europe and the euro currency in the future, he said. He hoped that the European Union will take active measures to expand the export of hi-tech products to China, and create a favorable investment environment for Chinese enterprises.