CHINA READY TO INTENSIFY COOPERATION WITH GREECE

Wen said China is ready to intensify cooperation with Greece and help the European country tide over its current difficulties at an early date.

"We applaud the efforts taken by the Greek government to tackle the international financial crisis and the debt crisis. And we support the measures taken by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in this regard," Wen said in the speech.

The premier said: "We hope that by intensifying cooperation with you, we can be of some help in your endeavor to tide over difficulties at an early date."

Since the beginning of this year, the two countries have signed 20 cooperation agreements and business contracts, he said, adding that the Greek exports to China in the first half of this year doubled year on year.

Wen suggested that the two countries expand cooperation in four fields.

China and Greece, he said, should broaden bilateral trade, actively explore new areas of trade, and strive to double their bilateral trade volume to 8 billion U.S. dollars in five years.

China would like to import more products that meet the demand of the Chinese market, such as olive oil and wines, so as to "make our bilateral trade not only bigger, but also more balanced," he said.

The two countries should deepen maritime cooperation as well, Wen said, adding that China will work with Greece to manage well the Piraeus Container Terminal and increase its capacity to 3.7 million TEUs by 2015. TEU stands for 20-foot equivalent unit.

China encourages its businesses to conduct logistic cooperation with Greece and its financial institutions to provide financing services for small- and medium-sized Greek shipowners for the building and repair of ships in China, he said.

China also supports the establishment of a research center on emission reduction and energy conservation of ships, the premier said, noting that these measures would give a boost to bilateral cooperation on navigation safety and exhaust emissions reduction of ships.

China and Greece should promote investment cooperation, Wen said, adding that the two nations should push forward trade and investment facilitation and create better conditions for cooperation between their enterprises.

China encourages its enterprises to set up businesses in Greece and would like to send a trade and investment promotion group to Greece as early as possible to seek cooperation projects in infrastructure and new energy sources, he said.

The premier also called on China and Greece to expand tourism cooperation. China welcomes greater tourism promotion efforts by Greece in China and hopes to jointly explore measures to facilitate tourism cooperation, he said.

At his meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias, Wen said he had witnessed the Greek government and people's unremitting efforts in coping with the challenges of the international financial crisis, expressing his belief that Greece could definitely overcome the temporary difficulties and make new development.

Papoulias, for his part, said Greece admires China's achievements in economic and social development, and its positive role in promoting world peace and development.

He voiced his belief that bilateral friendly cooperation would expand into deeper and wider fields and benefit the two peoples.

Also on Sunday, Wen met leader of Greece's New Democracy party Antonis Samaras.

Wen arrived in Athens Saturday on a three-day official visit to the European country, the first by a Chinese premier in 24 years.