Government of China

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Athens on a two-day official visit.

Xi was met at the Athens Airport by Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias.

On Monday, Xi is due to meet President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, who visited China last May, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Xi and Mitsotakis also met a few days ago, at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

Secretary of State with the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) Dan Neculaescu will attend on Monday the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC), which will take place in Brussels. According to a MAE release, the main topics included on the agenda are the Republic of Moldova, China and Yemen.

Greek Foreign Minister George Katrougalos (l) takes a cellphone photo outside the Great Hall of the People before the opening session of China's National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Tuesday. [AP]

Foreign Minister Giorgos Katrougalos shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing Monday. "There is a significant alignment of interests, precisely because we too endeavor that our country becomes a bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa," Katrougalos said in a statement. [Reuters]

China's largest shipping group, Cosco Shipping, is considering raising capital for the first time on the London Stock Exchange through a new initiative with Shanghai's bourse, two finance sources familiar with the matter have said.

The industrial action port worker unions have called for Wednesday at docks II and III of Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) are threatening yet another blockade of the country's main port.

The decision of China's ruling Communist Party to stick with the political theories of Karl Marx remains "totally correct," President Xi Jinping said ahead of the 200th anniversary of the German philosopher's birth on May 5.

An Athens court has approved an appeal by the Greek state and Piraeus Bank to prepare the Skaramangas shipyards for liquidation.

As long as there are no objections from the key shareholder Privinvest, which is far from certain, the government will be able to start auctioning the shipyard's assets via an international competition.

 The Chinese government on Monday announced an economic growth target of 6.5%. That's several notches below the 6.9% rate at which the world's second largest economy expanded last year, according to official figures, CNNreported. 

Greek Shipping Minister Panayiotis Kouroublis praised on Thursday the Sino-Greek cooperation at Piraeus port, speaking to Xinhua on the occasion of the launch of new projects to upgrade Greece's largest harbor.