9th Session of China-Greece Mixed Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation was Held in Beijing

Vice Minister of Commerce Yu Guangzhou and Stylianidis, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, co-chaired the9th session of China-Greece Mixed Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing on November9, summarizing the general development status of China-Greece trade and economic cooperation in recent years and putting forward the suggestion of further promotion of bilateral cooperation, and extensively and deeply exchanging views on trade and economic issue concerned by the two countries. After the meeting, the two sides signed the Minute of Talks of the 9th Session of China-Greece Mixed Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation. Mr. Yu Guangzhou said at the meeting that Chinese government attached importance as usual to the development of closer trade and economic relations between China and Greece and endeavored to upgrade the quality of investment and trade. Recently, China-Greece trade and economic cooperation turned a favorable momentum in general development and stepped into a new trading period of high-speed growth. In Jan. through Oct.2005, bilateral trade hit US$1.7 billion with a year-on-year increase of 3.7%, and was predicted to exceed US$2 billion in 2005. Proportion of products with high added value and technology in bilateral trade was enlarging. Construction material like marble and perlite, plastic products and furniture gradually became the new industries for Greece to invest in China. Meanwhile, the two countries made obvious achievements in bilateral cooperation in transportation, tourism, telecommunication and olive planting. Mr. Yu Guangzhou said that Chinese government was drafting Eleventh Five-Year Planning", targeting that GDP per capita in 2010 would double compared with that in 2000 on the basis of optimizing structure, upgrading efficiency and lowering energy consumption. Meanwhile, Mr. Yu Guangzhou put forward suggestions on further development of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, including enhancing exchanges among trade and economic administrative departments at all levels, enlarging exports of Greece products to China, promoting cooperation among medium and small seized enterprises in both China and Greece and further developing bilateral cooperation in superior industries such as sea transportation, tourism, telecommunication and Olympic Games. Stylianidis praised China for the positive efforts in promoting China-Greece trade and economic cooperation, and completely agreed to suggestions put forward by Mr. Yu Guangzhou. He said that with the mutual efforts of China and Greece, the bilateral trade and economic exchanges would obtain abundant achievements. Greece was willing to actively cooperate with China to push forward exports to China, encourage two-way investment, enhance communication in commerce, and deepen bilateral trade and economic cooperation to promote great progress in China-Greece trade and economic relations. After the Meeting, Mr. Yu Guangzhou and Stylianidis met together with Chinese and overseas media and answered questions. Delegates from relative departments of the State Council like General Administration of Customs and State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, and representatives of enterprises such as China Shipping Group, ZTE and Huawei Technologies took part in the Meeting.