Aerial photo taken on Feb. 15, 2019 shows the COSCO Shipping Pisces approaching Piraeus port, Greece. (Xinhua/Wu Lu)

"We are very keen to accelerate the process and welcome foreign direct investments from China to Greece," said Greek Minister of Development and Investments Adonis Georgiadis. "I am sure, when the pandemic crisis is over, everything will be back on track again and we will gain the lost time."

ATHENS, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Greece-China cooperation in the field of investment will be back on track after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, Greek Minister of Development and Investments Adonis Georgiadis said here on Thursday.

"We are very keen to accelerate the process and welcome foreign direct investments from China to Greece," the minister told an online forum organized to promote Greece-China collaboration.

"I am sure, when the pandemic crisis is over, everything will be back on track again and we will gain the lost time," he said.

Georgiadis, along with other Greek and Chinese officials and representatives from the business circle, also cited China's COSCO Shipping investment at Greece's Piraeus port as one of the successful examples of bilateral cooperation in recent years.

Cooperation between the two countries has solid foundations and there is strong willingness from both sides to work together to achieve more win-win results, said Wang Qiang, Charge d'Affaires Minister-Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Greece, while addressing the forum.

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 6, 2019 shows a cargo ship of COSCO Shipping Lines at the Port of Piraeus in Greece. (Photo by Lefteris Partsalis/Xinhua)

Last year, Greece and China, as good partners, supported each other and worked together to overcome difficulties while facing the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Wang.

This year, the two countries celebrate together the China-Greece Year of Culture and Tourism, the 200th anniversary of Greece's War of Independence as well as the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, he added.

Participants in the forum also reiterated their commitment to strengthening bonds between Greece and China in the post-pandemic era and making the most of new opportunities presented by the Belt and Road Initiative.

The "Belt and Road Invest in Greece 2021 Forum" is aimed at promoting Greece as the Hub of the Southeastern Mediterranean and as a point of entry for the European Union in such areas as logistics, technology and energy, according to the organizers of the forum.

"We invite you to invest in the field of innovation and use Greece as a hub to make similar investments in the southeastern Mediterranean," said George Floras, managing partner of Belt and Road Associates, one of the organizers of the forum.■