Conclusion of a landmark deal finally transferring the Piraeus Port Authority to Chinese shipping giant Cosco has apparently “whetted the appetite” of Greece’s leftist government, which wants to achieve a two-pronged goal of boosting foreign direct investment in the recession-battered country while also putting much needed cash into state coffers from memorandum-mandated privatizations.
The government reportedly tabled six broad proposals to the Chinese side during the ongoing visit to Beijing by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who leads nearly half his Cabinet and a score of business executives on a six-day official visit to the Far East country.
According to Greece’s state-run news agency from the Chinese capital, Tsipras presented his counterpart Li Keqiang with six prospective areas for possible strategic investments by Beijing and Chinese capital, namely, a projected airport at the Kastelli site in central Crete; Chinese expansion in a mostly depressed shipbuilding and ship repair zone west of the Greek capital; a presence in the Thriasio industrial and logistic district, also west of Athens proper; investment in Greece’s twice recapitalized banking sector; boosting Greek farm product exports to the massive Chinese market; establishment of a new R&D center in Greece by Chinese interests, as well as Chinese capital investment in tourism projects and real estate.
The long-coveted goal of a permanent and direct air link between Beijing and Athens was also discussed, an ubiquitous topic on the agenda of practically every high-level Sino-Greek meeting for the past decade.
