Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will be meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, before traveling to Shanghai for negotiations with Chinese investors. The government is completely satisfied with the progress of negotiations, particularly after the glowing remarks about the Greek envoy in the Chinese press.

Mr. Samaras spoke before a business forum attended by 257 Chinese and 73 Greeks and announced that “Greek exports to China have increased and the goal is to double Greek exports by 2015”.

The PM then spoke of the government’s efforts to deal with the recession, despite the objective problems and pessimistic predictions of a “Grexit”, how the situation has now changed and that Greece is becoming a credible partner once again.

Mr. Samaras spoke of the upcoming privatization program that involves railroads, ports, airports, real estate and the energy market, and explained that “we believe in a new era of cooperation between China and Greece” and that Greece can become the gateway for Chinese investments in Europe.

The Prime Minister valued the recent investment deals in shipping, tourism, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and new technologies, while noting that “Greece is determined to turn the crisis into an opportunity”.

Mr. Samaras is visiting the Great Wall of China today and will later meet with the coach of the national Chinese basketball team Panagiotis Giannakis. In the afternoon he will head to Hangzhou to meet with the governor and potential investors.