Progress of Greek port project hailed

Premier Li Keqiang said progress on the Piraeus Port project will strengthen Chinese enterprises' confidence to invest in Greece, as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said his country "firmly supports and is proactively pressing ahead" with the project.

In a telephone call on Tuesday afternoon with Tsipras, Li said the project will be helpful in "bringing bilateral pragmatic cooperation to a new level", and will boost transportation routes across Eurasia.

The newly elected Greek government - still haunted by domestic economic hard times - was criticized for frustrating foreign investors in late January when it announced that it would halt the sale of a stake in Piraeus Port to China's shipping conglomerate COSCO Group and four other suitors, and that it would review COSCO's stock purchase deal.