国内英语新闻:Premier Wen makes five-point proposal on China-Greece ties

ATHENS, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday made a five-point proposal on boosting ties with Greece during talks with his Greek counterpart George Papandreou, stressing that China is willing to work with the European country to combat the lingering financial crisis.

Wen arrived in Athens earlier in the day, starting a three-day official visit to the country, the first by a Chinese premier in 24 years.

Papandreou held a grand welcoming ceremony for Wen after the Chinese premier's arrival.

Wen said both countries were great civilizations in the history and the people of the two countries have always been amicable to each other. There have been consistent mutual support, mutual help and solid political mutual trust between the two nations for a long time.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou (R) shakes hands with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during a press conference in Athens, Greece, on Oct. 2, 2010.

"Currently, Greece is actively dealing with the impact inflicted by the sovereign debt crisis and has experienced the hardest time," Wen said during the talks with Papandreou.

"China will work with Greece to deal with various challenges and deepen the China-Greece comprehensive strategic partnership," he added.

China has bought and is now holding Greece's treasury bonds, and will continue to "take positive attitude to participate in the purchase of Greece's new treasury bonds," said Wen, adding that it served as one of China's measures to help the sovereign debt-ridden country.

Wen put forward a five-point proposal for the further development of China-Greece ties concerning cooperation in maritime transportation, trade and investment.

China will set up a special fund on China-Greece shipping cooperation, with the initial part of 5 billion U.S. dollars, in a bid to promote cooperation in maritime transportation between the two countries, said Wen.

He added China will help upgrade Greece's southeast and largest port Piraeus to a distributing center for Chinese exports to Europe.

Wen said he believes it is realizable for trade volume between the two countries to double and reach the goal of 8 billion dollars in five years, adding China will expand the import from Greece.