Your Excellency, Mr. Panos Skourletis, Minister of Environment and Energy of the Hellenic Republic,

Your Excellency, Mr. Giorgos Tsipras, Secretary for International Economic Relations of the Hellenic Foreign Ministry,

Mr. Emmanouel Panagiotakis, Chairman & CEO of PPC,

Mr. Fang Yanshui, assistant president of CMEC,

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate the two sides, CMEC, China Machinery Engineering Corporation, and PPC, Greek Public Power Corporation, for the signing of the agreement today. I heard of the project for the first time during the visit of Prime Minister Tsipras to China in early July. Now two months from the visit, we are more than happy to witness the signing of the agreement, which is one of the successful follow-ups of Prime Minister Tsipras' visit in China. Greece has rich resources in wind energy, solar energy, and lignite. Chinese companies are very competitive in product technology and financing power. The Chinese government will continue to support the two business communities in enlarging their cooperation in the fields of green and clean energy so as to provide strong support for the growth of the Greek economy, environmental protection, and the increase of employment.

I also want to take this opportunity to make a few remarks on China-Greece investment cooperation: Following the successful example of the Cosco project at the Piraeus Port, more and more Chinese companies have got interested in the Greek market. The Greek society, from the central government to local authorities, welcomes Chinese investment in Greece, which is a positive and encouraging momentum. The question is how to bridge the huge demand of the Greek market and the boom of Chinese investment overseas. Yes, China and Greece have a long history of friendly contact. But investment cooperation between the two countries is a new thing. Frankly speaking, the two sides are not short of projects, not short of funding, not short of talents or technology, but there is a big deficit of communication and mutual understanding between us. There aren't many efficient channels of communication between the two communities. Huge efforts of synergy are required among the central governments, local authorities, business communities, banking sectors, and the mass media in order to build up such kind of cooperation mechanism. Greece is regarded as an important supporting point for the development of "One Belt and One Road". This is true not only in the shipping area, but also in the field of energy. I believe the signing of the document today is a good beginning that launches a new process of energy cooperation between China and Greece. As long as the two sides understand and trust each other, accommodate each other's concerns with a sincere will to reach a win-win situation, our cooperation will definitely enjoy broader prospects for the benefits of our two countries and two peoples.

Thank you!