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Trading partners who can rely upon each other Release date: 2022-06-06    Source:China Daily

Sino-Greek relations proving profitable as countries establish firm business bonds throughout five decades since beginning of diplomatic ties

Despite the global economy facing mounting uncertainty and sluggish growth caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Greece can count on enhanced regional connectivity and green projects, as well as an increasing goods trade volume to enrich bilateral business ties in the coming years, said government officials and experts.

As this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Shang Yuhong, a professor specializing in regional economic development at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, said China and Greece have used their comparative strengths, widened market access to each other, expanded the convergence of interest and jointly promoted the high-quality growth of both countries.

The China-Greece trade volume has jumped from less than $100 million in the early 1990s to $12.15 billion in 2021. Greece has become China's fourth-largest trading partner among Central and Eastern European countries. China is also the third-largest trading partner of Greece and its largest trading partner outside the European Union.

Bilateral trade soared 48.7 percent on an annual basis to $4.36 billion in the first four months of 2022, data from China's General Administration of Customs showed.

China exports mainly construction machinery, computers, manufacturing equipment, steel, electronics, textiles, garments and household appliances to Greece. Apart from agricultural products such as olive oil, wine, vegetables and honey, Greece's exports to China include mineral and chemical products, fossil fuels, paper, plastic, optical instruments and a range of consumer goods.

After a landmark agreement between the EU and China to protect more than 500 Chinese and European geographical indications entered into force in March 2021, Konstantinos Lazarakis, Greece's first Master of Wine and a member of the London-based Institute of Masters of Wine, said among the beneficiaries of this agreement were wines produced on Greece's Samos Island.

"China is an extremely important market or potentially important market for Greek wines. I think that as wine is becoming more popular in China, in just a few years' time, Greek wines will conquer the market there," he said.

With the Greek government planning to streamline the licensing process for renewable energy projects this year, Ding Rijia, a professor specializing in energy economies at the China University of Mining and Technology in Beijing, said this will create more opportunities for Chinese companies to participate in Greece's green power projects.

Greece's Independent Power Transmission Operator is overseeing a major grid transformation, which includes using underwater cables to link Greece's numerous islands to the mainland thereby discontinuing the use of island-based generators that burn oil.

The Cyclades Interconnection project has linked the islands of Mykonos, Syros and Paros to the mainland's grid. Santorini, Folegandros, Milos and the Naxos Islands will soon be online.

The project is supported, in part, by State Grid International Development, a subsidiary of State Grid Corporation of China, which invested 320 million euros ($341 million) for a 24 percent stake in IPTO in 2016.

The Chinese company is also lending its expertise to the construction of an underwater cable that will carry renewable energy from major wind and solar projects in Crete, to the mainland.

Since Greece has relied heavily on oil, lignite coal and natural gas to meet its energy needs, its government announced a new climate law last year that promised to phase out lignite, which is particularly polluting, by 2028. It also aims to reduce emissions by 55 percent by the end of the decade and become carbon neutral by 2050.

Chinese Ambassador to Greece Xiao Junzheng said that over the past 50 years, the two countries have strengthened mutual political trust and set an example of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.

"No matter how international circumstances change, the two countries have always respected, understood, trusted and supported each other," said the ambassador.

The two sides have carried out win-win cooperation across wide-ranging sectors, including transport, energy, communication and finance. Projects such as the Port of Piraeus, a key hub in the Mediterranean invested in and run by China COSCO Shipping Corp, have not only set an example for deepening bilateral cooperation in areas such as building regional logistic hubs, but also helped promote regional connectivity and cooperative growth.

China COSCO Shipping, the country's largest shipping group, completed an additional 16 percent acquisition in the Greek port of Piraeus late last year. It marked a fresh step in turning the port into a major international transit hub for products and services between Asia and Europe.

Aside from benefiting the Greek economy, the project has been useful in boosting economic and trade ties between China and Europe. It has already become a major trading and transportation hub for goods going both ways, said Feng Bo, executive vice-president of Shanghai-headquartered China COSCO Shipping.

Backed by more than a decade of growth, Piraeus Port has been expanded, upgraded, linked up to railway networks and enjoyed robust growth, after China COSCO Shipping began managing the port's container terminals in 2009.

For the next step, he said the group will work with all partners to build Piraeus Port into a regional logistics hub, and open more shipping routes and railroads to enhance the port's competitiveness.

"Greeks and Chinese have benefited a great deal by cooperation, while respecting differences between us ... More trade, investment and people-to-people exchanges are highly desirable," said Loukas Tsoukalis, president of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, one of the top think tanks in Greece.

Since the inception of the Cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European Countries mechanism in 2012, it has become an all-around, multilevel and wide-ranging multidimensional platform. It is used for mutually beneficial cooperation with progress in trade, investment, contracted engineering projects and connectivity. Greece became a fully fledged participant in China-CEEC cooperation in 2019, according to information released by China's Ministry of Commerce.

In addition to taking an active part in the China-CEEC Expo, the Greek side has participated in the China International Import Expo for four consecutive years and served as one of the guest-of-honor countries.

A number of Chinese companies have invested in Greece, including telecom equipment provider Huawei Technologies, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Development Bank, consumer electronics company Xiaomi Corp, and China Classification Society, a classification survey service provider for ships and related industrial products.

Since China and Greece have a solid cooperation base, they should further expand their economic and trade cooperation, especially in the areas of cross-border e-commerce and digital economy, said Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

By Zhong Nan