Captain Wei Met with President of Greece

On the afternoon of May 19, Athens, Captain Wei Jiafu, President & CEO of COSCO Group, who was heading a senior delegation for a commercial trip to Greece, paid a courtesy visit to Hon. Karolos Papoulias, President of the Republic of Greece at his residence in Athens. During the meeting, Captain briefed the President the purpose of his trip which was to deepen COSCO's win-win business collaborations with the Greek shipping and port communities on the basis of the PCT, a concession operation project of container terminals in Piraeus invested by COSCO Pacific Ltd, a Hong Kong listed subsidiary of COSCO specialized in global container terminal operation. It is our expectation, said Captain Wei, to expand our business into more maritime related areas by integrating the entire value chain of shipping, terminal and logistics to introduce more international resources into the port, consolidating its position as an entry hub to the central and southern Europe and as a transshipment hub in the region.

President Papoulias spoke highly of COSCO's business developments in Greece, lauding Captain Wei's outstanding role in paving the way for a win-win business cooperation between the two countries. President Papoulias expressed his good wills for COSCO's business in Greece, saying that he is supportive to COSCO's expanding its collaborations with its Greek partners in maritime related fields, and such collaboration has laid solid foundations to the friendship between the two maritime nations.

The meeting was also attended by H.E. Luo Linquan of China Ambassador to Greece, Rocky Shi, General Manager of Executive Division of COSCO (Group) Company, Mr. Xu Minjie, Managing Director of COSCO Pacific Ltd, and Mr. Li Keqiang, Managing Director of PCT.

Captain Wei and his delegation also visited Madam Luka Katseli, the Minister for Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping, and Mr. George Anomeritis, CEO of the Port of Piraeus ("PPA")

On the evening of May 19, a gala reception and dinner party was held by COSCO in the International Convention Center of Athens. The dinner party was attended by more than 350 local guests from political, business and shipowners' communities in Greece. In his address at the dinner party, Captain Wei reviewed the history of win-win cooperation between China and Greece especially at times of difficulties in the developments of the two countries, saying that he intends to carry a message of confidence to Greece at such a critical moment. Captain Wei stressed that China and Greece are more partners than competitors in the maritime industry, and he expects that COSCO will deepen its cooperation with Greek partners in the fields of logistics, ship repair and shipbuilding as well as ship chartering.

H.E. Ambassador Luo Linquan the Chinese Ambassador to Greece and Hon. Pangalos, Vice Prime Minister of Greece also spoke at the reception. Updated Time: 2010/05/21

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