China, Greece to increase cooperation

BEIJING - China's top legislator Li Zhanshu met with Speaker of the Greek parliament Nikolaos Voutsis on Tuesday in Beijing.

Hailing the traditional friendship between the two countries, Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said all-round pragmatic cooperation under the guidance of leaders of the two countries has produced fruitful results, with joint construction of the Belt and Road playing a leading role.

Li said China's NPC is willing to cooperate more with the Greek parliament to create a better legal and social environment for building the Belt and Road and promote the China-Greece comprehensive strategic partnership.

Voutsis appreciated China's rapid development and said Greece is willing to actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and would like to promote cooperation between Europe and China, and he hopes both sides will have more legislative exchanges to promote friendly exchanges and pragmatic cooperation between the two countries.

Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan also met with Voutsis on Tuesday in Beijing.

"China and Greece are traditionally friendly countries," Wang said, noting that both sides understand and respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and are working to consolidate their strategic trust.

Wang said China attaches great importance to its ties with Greece and is willing to make joint efforts with Greece to strengthen exchanges of various levels, expand pragmatic cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, and enhance people-to-people exchanges to benefit the two countries and two peoples.

Voutsis expressed satisfaction with the high level of bilateral relations and said Greece respects China's core interests and is willing to cooperate more with China.

Greece is willing to promote joint efforts between China and the EU to play a more important role in global and regional security and stability, as well as economic globalization.