Greek PM to visit Beijing in May for "Belt and Road Forum"

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will visit Beijing to take part in the Belt and Road forum on May 14-15, for international cooperation reviving the Silk Road trade route over land and sea, the Greek national news agency AMNA reported Tuesday.

This will be Tsipras' second visit to China in less than a year. He paid an official visit to Beijing and Shanghai in July 2016, during which the two countries reaffirmed their commitment to deepen bilateral collaboration in many sectors.

According to an announcement from Greece's General Secretariat of Information and Communication, the forum opens on May 14 with a high-level dialogue ensuing on May 15, where there will be a two-session round table discussion and a working lunch at the Yanqi Lake resort in eastern Beijing.

China-Greek friendship and cooperation have blossomed in recent years, in particular following China's active support for Greece during its debt crisis.

In 2016, China's COSCO (China Ocean Shipping Group Company) acquired a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority after having successfully managed to expand part of the port's container terminal in the past seven years.

Piraeus port, Greece's largest port, holds a key role in the Belt and Road Initiative as a main gateway in the European South. Endi