Shipping Industry: Greece seeks role as China’s ‘gateway to Europe’

China wants to invest in Greece’s airports, railways and its busiest port, the two countries have said, as the country where the euro debt crisis began seeks a role as China’s gateway into Europe.

Chinese premier Li Keqiang is on a three-day trip to Greece to strengthen economic ties between the nations, who have drawn closer since China’s Cosco Pacific won a 35-year concession in 2009 to upgrade and run two container cargo piers at the Piraeus port.

Greece, which relies on bailout loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, desperately needs foreign investment to spur growth and create jobs as it struggles to exit a six-year recession.

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