Greeks hail 19th CPC congress, prospects for future road map

ATHENS - Greek officials, experts and representatives of the business world have hailed the outcome of the recent 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and expressed confidence about the prospects of cooperation between the countries.

At a seminar held on Thursday, Qu Qingshan, head of the Party History Research Center of the CPC Central Committee, as the keynote speaker, made a thorough presentation about the congress and the most important messages included in President Xi Jinping's report, before exchanging views with the audience on China's vision for prosperity and peace, its international role and Sino-Greek ties.

Delivering opening remarks at the seminar, Chinese Ambassador to Greece Zou Xiaoli said: "The 19th CPC National Congress is not only a significant landmark in the history of China's development, but has an important impact on development worldwide.

"Political parties and prominent figures from each country across the globe, including Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the ruling party Syriza, the main opposition New Democracy party, the Greek Communist party and so on, praised the 19th Congress for the new ideas and positions declared."

Hand in hand

Qu added: "I sincerely hope that China and Greece, hand in hand, will make further joint efforts to promote exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, to deepen friendship between the two peoples and advance bilateral ties in order to achieve sustainable development."

Tassos Kourakis, deputy speaker of the Greek parliament, praised the strategic partnership between the two countries and underlined the significance Greece attaches to China's road map to the future.

"The discussion on China's course to the future opens new horizons of thinking and new roads in general regarding mankind's course to the future," the Greek official said.

Nektarios Bougdanis, coordinator in Syriza's Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy, visited China this fall as a member of a party delegation for contact with CPC officials.

During the seminar, he stressed that Greece was eager to further strengthen ties with China and promote bilateral cooperation in all sectors, from economy and trade to culture, science, technology and tourism.

"It is a special relationship going back several centuries and it is not limited only to the current period. We certainly believe that in the future, thanks to the efforts made by our governments as well as our parties, Syriza and the CPC, our cooperation will deepen and will be more beneficial to both sides," Bougdanis said.

Xinhua

(China Daily 12/20/2017 page11)