ATHENS: As the new leftist Greek government announced that it would bring the sale of a majority stake in Greece’s largest port to a standstill, China’s Ministry of Commerce expressed “high concerns” over the issue.
The spokesman of Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Shen Danyang said: “We are highly concerned about this. Our bilateral relationship and bilateral economic and trade cooperation has always been good between China and Greece. China’s Cosco Group’s cooperation at container terminal two and three at the Piraeus port has been a success story in the two countries’ mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation, and is in the interests of both the Chinese and Greek people,”
“The Commerce Ministry will continue to closely monitor the direction of relevant policies of the new Greek government, maintain contact with the Greek government, and urge the Greek government to protect the legal rights of Chinese companies, including Cosco.”
China’s Cosco Group is among five companies that the previous Greek administration short-listed as potential buyers of a 67-percent stake in the Piraeus Port Authority last year.
But Greece’s new government, led by the left-wing Syriza party, has halted the port sale and other privatization plans arranged with its international lenders. Cosco has been managing two of the Greek port’s cargo piers since 2008 and binding bids for the 67-percent stake were expected by the end of January.
