CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Tuesday, November 12, 2019 | 3 XI'S VISIT Leaders hail Piraeus as BRI flagship With port becoming a Belt and Road hub, its global rankings have soared By ZHANG YUNBI standard size for shipping con­ in Piraeus, Greece tainers, and its global ranking [email protected] surged from 93 in 2010 to 32 last year. China’s efforts to advance the Piraeus was a key reference for Belt and Road Initiative — partic­ Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos ularly the landmark Port of Pirae­ Mitsotakis during his recent visit us project in Greece — under the to China. In a Nov 3 meeting with leadership of President Xi Jinping Li Qiang, Party secretary of Shang­ President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Maximos Mansion in Athens, where they held talks have led to remarkable progress hai, he said more Chinese compa­ on Monday. KUANG LINHUA / CHINA DAILY and benefits for both countries nies are welcome to invest in and Eurasia as a whole, according Greece and bolster cooperation in to leaders and officials. areas including shipping, port They said that as Greece has facilities and tourism. Relations: Nations to strengthen partnership become a vital hub on several BRI On Nov 4, he visited COSCO routes, Piraeus has consistently Shipping headquarters in Shang­ scored higher in global rankings hai, and said his country appreci­ From page 1 enhance multilateral cooperation Greece firmly opposes the so­called such areas as investment, ports, than many of its rival ports. ates the company for helping under such frameworks as the theory of civilizational conflict finance, energy and education. After Greece’s debt crisis in 2009, Piraeus become the largest port in China will never seek hegemony, United Nations and remain dedi­ because real civilizations will not The two countries also issued a China’s State­owned giant COSCO the Mediterranean within a short nor will the country approve the con­ cated to building a community cause conflicts, Pavlopoulos said, joint statement on further strength­ Shipping started to manage and time and for creating jobs for more cept of a zero­sum game, because with a shared future for mankind, adding that conflicts will not ening their comprehensive strategic revitalize the Greek port. Rein­ than 3,000 local people. Chinese people don’t possess such Xi said. resolve problems. partnership. forced, updated facilities there In discussions with Xi in Bei­ cultural genes or ambitions, Xi said. Pavlopoulos said that Greeks nat­ China’s historical traditions and China will take firm steps to boost have contributed to rising capacity, jing, Mitsotakis said Piraeus had Both China and Greece support urally have friendly feelings toward the country’s development now opening­up, and the country would turnover and annual throughput of become a flagship project as the mutual exchanges and mutual Chinese as both countries are refute the theory of conflict among like to bring more opportunities to containers in recent years. two countries are jointly support­ learning, and both sides oppose the ancient civilizations. civilizations and the theory of any all countries, including Greece, Xi During a stopover visit to ing the BRI. absurd theory of conflicts among It is great to see that the People’s country seeking hegemony, he said. told Mitsotakis. Greece in 2014, Xi told Greek lead­ Xi said China stands ready to civilizations, Xi said. Republic of China has made such Xi also met with Greek Prime China and Greece should connect ers that the Chinese government work with Greece to promote The two countries should also outstanding achievements over the Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the building of the Belt and Road encourages other capable Chinese pragmatic cooperation, in partic­ make coordinated efforts to main­ past 70 years, he said. Monday and the two jointly wit­ with Greece’s strategy of building an enterprises to invest and start ular to let the Piraeus project tain multilateralism, enhance coor­ Both Greece and China promote nessed the signing of a number of important international logistics businesses in Greece and supports play a leading and demonstrative dination on major global issues, dialogue among civilizations, and cooperation documents covering hub, Xi said. the effective management of the role and to jointly build the BRI. Piraeus port project, making Vice­Foreign Minister Qin Greece a key hub of China­Europe Gang said on Thursday that Chi­ cooperation. na and Greece are “real friends” When he met Greece’s former in co­building the Belt and Road Experts urge closer Sino­Greek economic ties prime minister Alexis Tsipras in and win­win cooperation. Qin Beijing in July 2016, Xi said China said that Greece, a European By JING SHUIYU Shanghai, which ran from Nov 4 to nomic and social development and last year, and the country’s imports was ready to continue working Union member, signed the inter­ [email protected] Sunday. help advance industrial cooperation from Greece reached $564 million, with Greece and building Piraeus governmental cooperative docu­ Tourism also was a highlight for under the framework of the Belt and up 31.2 percent year­on­year. into the largest container transit ment on co­building the Belt and Enhanced efforts are needed Greece, one of the expo’s 15 honored Road Initiative, Dai said. The total size of China­Greece port in the Mediterranean Sea and Road early on. between China and Greece to countries. This year, the two countries mutual investment is small and is an influential hub for land and sea The Port of Piraeus has made strengthen cooperation in different Chinese tourists play an impor­ signed the Greece­China Action focused on shipping, telecommuni­ transport. an important contribution to pro­ industries and further unleash their tant role in the burgeoning Greek Plan 2020­2022, outlining areas of cations and solar technology, the In 2018, the port’s container moting local economic and social economic and trade potential, tourism industry. The number of cooperation in transportation, ener­ ministry said. As of the end of Janu­ throughput increased to 4.9 mil­ development in Greece and pro­ experts said. Chinese tourists visiting the country gy, telecommunications, financial ary, Greece had 172 direct invest­ lion 20­foot equivalent units, a moting connectivity, Qin said. Chen Xin, deputy director­general in 2019 will double last year’s num­ services, processing and research ment projects in China, with of the Institute of European Studies bers and may reach 400,000 or even and development. In April, Greece investment of $98.33 million. of the Chinese Academy of Social Sci­ 500,000 in 2020, the Greek Ministry joined China’s 17+1 Initiative, a mul­ Still, companies from both coun­ ences, said China and Greece should of Tourism said. tilateral forum for economic cooper­ tries have been deepening their col­ FACT BOX — Port of Piraeus strengthen cooperation on several To satisfy the demand, Shanghai­ ation and development in Central laboration. Piraeus means "guarding the passage" in Greek. fronts, including e­commerce. based Juneyao Air is set to launch and Eastern Europe. In October, the Piraeus Port It is the largest harbor in Greece and is now the largest port in “More efforts are needed to fur­ direct flights from Shanghai to “Greece joining the platform has Authority in Greece, majority the Mediterranean Sea. ther unlock the potential of China­ Athens starting in July. helped expand the market in which owned by China’s COSCO Shipping, Greece economic and trade Dai Bin, president of the Beijing­ China and Central and Eastern received approval to make invest­ Total throughput Profit of two container collaboration,” Chen said. The part­ based China Tourism Academy, European countries can cooperate,” ments of 611.8 million euros ($674.9 terminals operated by nership can be “a new model” for said, “China and Greece, as two of Chen said. million) at Greece’s largest port. (Unit: million container units) COSCO at port China building economic relations the ancient countries in world civili­ China­Greece trade has devel­ That marks the “opening of a new 4.90 (Unit: US dollars) with Western European countries, zation, have a profound cultural oped rapidly in recent years. In page in the excellent relations 5 he said. heritage, which is an important car­ 2018, bilateral trade amounted to between Greece and China”, said 50,000,000 4 Chen spoke as business repre­ rier for the development of tourism $7.06 billion, an increase of 36.3 per­ Ioannis Plakiotakis, Greek shipping 48,612,721 sentatives from over 60 Greek com­ exchanges.” cent year­on­year, according to the minister. panies exhibited their advanced Large­scale tourism exchanges Ministry of Foreign Affairs. China’s Companies including Huawei 3 40,000,000 products at the second China Inter­ can enhance people’s understand­ exports to Greece increased by 36.8 and Fosun have also expanded their national Import Expo 2019 in ing of one another’s cultural, eco­ percent year­on­year to $6.5 billion businesses in Greece. 2 30,000,000 1 0.88 20,000,000 COSCO investment goes far beyond harbor revival 0 2010 2015 2016 2017 2018 10,000,000 By MARIA PETRAKIS in Athens company has made the spearhead of ment approved plans for invest­ to draw foreign investment to create [email protected] its European operations. ment of 611.8 million euros ($674.9 jobs. Since 2009, COSCO has con­ Port's global ranking Since COSCO agreed to take over million), to include hotels, a new tributed 300 million euros to the 20 0 Locals call it “the pagoda” — a container operations at two piers in cruise port and a car terminal.