The two countries signed a strategic cooperation agreement on shipping finance with the aim to establish a collaborative network to stimulate communication among shipping companies and financial institutions from both international shipping centers, according to Xinhua news.
In particular, the agreement was signed during an online event held last week in which Greece’s Deputy Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Kostas Katsafados told that this agreement “will further strengthen the relations of the countries in the financing sector.”
Over the last decades, Greece and China have built a strong complementary relationship based on the sea. Greeks control 25 percent of the world’s ocean-going merchant fleet and the synergies with China, the world’s largest exporter, are obvious, he explained.
Greek shipowners have built more than a thousand ships in China’s shipyards over the past 15 years, worth over 50 billion U.S. dollars, while Chinese banks’ exposure in Greek shipping is 3 billion U.S. dollars, Katsafados said.
Huang Hongyuan, representative of the chairman unit of the Lujiazui Financial City Council and vice president of the Bank of Communications, signed the agreement in China and George Xiradakis, president of the Association of Banking and Financial Executives of Hellenic Shipping, in Greece.
He also mentioned the untapped potential in financial cooperation, saying that a China-Greece financial “Silk Road” will underpin the development of the shipping industry on both sides, as Shanghai offers a variety of financial products and services as an international financial hub.
