Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-11-28

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Minister addresses Greek-Chinese conference

[01] Minister addresses Greek-Chinese conference

Stylianides had also underlined the premier's visit during an earlier meeting with the deputy mayor of Beijing Zhang Mao.

"The business forum and the Mixed Ministerial Committee that are taking place in the Chinese capital today and tomorrow will act as a springboard for strengthening ties between Greece and China, which are entering a new period in all sectors," he said.

Pointing to a bilateral agreement for the avoidance of double taxation that will go into effect as of January 1, 2006 and a memorandum for the support of small-and-middle-sized businesses that is due to be signed during Karamanlis' visit, the deputy minister said that the right economic and political environment was being created to allow both business communities to expand trade ties to their full capacity.

Describing relations between Greece and China as excellent, Stylianides nevertheless noted that bilateral economic trade did not reflect their full potential, even though the volume of trade transactions in 2001-2004 had more than doubled from 885 to 1,800 million dollars.

Noting Greece's large trade deficit with China, he said Greece was seeking to promote agricultural products such as oil, wine, fruit, vegetables and dairy products in the Chinese market.

He also referred to the rapidly growing numbers of Chinese tourists, noting that Greece could offer interesting tourist packages for Chinese holiday-makers, of which 100 million are expected to visit a foreign country before 2008.

Another area where the two countries could cooperate to mutual benefit was the shipping industry, with Greek ship-owners now appearing to shift their custom from Japanese to Chinese shipyards, he said.

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