Greece-China Business Council inaugurated

The Greece-China Business Council was officially inaugurated in Athens on Tuesday to promote bilateral business cooperation.

The council "demonstrates that the continued mutually beneficial cooperation will usher in a better future and generate more opportunities for China and Greece," said Chinese Ambassador Tian Xuejun.

It will be a golden period for enhancing and promoting the friendly cooperation between Athens and Beijing by 2008, when China is to host the next summer Olympic Games, he said.

Tian promised full support to the council, a non-profit, membership-based organization with headquarters in Athens, which is aimed at promoting and facilitating business, trade and investment between Greece and China.

Theodore Fessa, president of the council, said the council will facilitate economic cooperation between the two countries.

The Greece-China economic relations should be judged positively,although there is a trade unbalance between the two countries at present, he said.

Greece's cooperation with China in business, tourism and investment "should be viewed as a challenge, but not as a threat,"he said.

"There is great potential in cooperation in tourism between the two countries," said Fessa, also president of Info-Quest, one of the key telecommunications companies in Greece.

Source: Xinhua