Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with Premier of the People’s Republic of China Li Qiang, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, as part of his official visit to China.
At the beginning of their meeting, Kyriakos Mitsotakis made the following statement:
“Prime Minister, thank you, first of all, very much on behalf of my delegation for this very warm welcome on this beautiful autumn day in Beijing. I’m really pleased to be here with you today. My visit reflects the importance we attached to this bilateral relationship. First of all, I wish to offer my condolences for the passing of Mr. Li Keqiang, former Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China.
I would like to reiterate what you mentioned that our bilateral relations are at a very good level. I would like to remind ourselves that we celebrated the 50th anniversary of our diplomatic relations last year. Throughout these years, I think we have built a strong, mutually beneficial relationship based on respect and understanding and guided by the fundamental principles and values of the United Nations Charter. Our two countries are bound by a very solid institutional framework which includes a variety of agreements and memoranda of understanding.
And of course, the most important document is the Strategic Partnership, the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which was signed 15 years ago. I still have very fond memories both of my visit to Shanghai, when I had an opportunity to meet you in a different capacity, but also the very important visit that President Xi made to Greece in 2019.
I would like to point out that we very much appreciate the recent upgrade of my country’s sovereign credit rating by two of the greatest Chinese credit rating agencies. This constitutes a tangible token of confidence of Chinese investors in the progress of the Greek economy and its outlook and we hope that this meeting will be a springboard in order to continue to attract Chinese investment to Greece and to also foster stronger economic cooperation between our two countries.
I would like to point out that we continue counting on China as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to keep promoting global peace and the rules-based international order.
I do feel that our two countries,cradles of ancient civilizations, can cooperate on addressing global issues and global environmental challenges, in particular climate change, which is an area that China has made significant progress over the past years.
Finally, let me point out that we have a very strong cooperation in the field of culture, as one would expect. We represent two of the most ancient civilizations. As you know, my Minister of Culture was in Beijing very recently, and this visit demonstrated the spectrum and the powerful ties that bind their two countries also from a cultural aspect.
Again, dear Prime Minister, let me thank you for this very warm welcome, and we are looking forward to having a very productive discussion”.
The Prime Minister then laid a wreath at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square.
