On February 5, 2010, Greek President Karolos Papoulias met in Athens with visiting Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun who came to Greece for the political consultations between the two foreign ministries.

Zhang extended Chinese President Hu Jintao's congratulation to Papoulias on his re-election, expressing belief that the president will make even greater contributions to the development of bilateral ties in his new tenure.

Zhang said that China and Greece had traditional friendship and the bilateral relations have achieved great development since the two countries established diplomatic relationship 38 years ago, bringing tangible benefits to the two peoples. The Chinese vice minister said that China is willing to join hands with Greece in enhancing bilateral cooperation in areas such as politics, economy and trade, science and technology, culture and education.

Papoulias thanked Hu for the congratulation and asked Zhang to convey his sincere greetings to the Chinese president. He said that the current Greece-China relations are very good. The Greek people from all walks of life have a broad consensus on promoting the comprehensive development of friendly and cooperative relations with China. Papoulias said China shipping giant COSCO's taking over of the operation of Piraeus container business is of great importance to the deepening of economic cooperation between the two countries. He said he hoped that the two sides could work closely to ensure the success of the project.

Papoulias said that as an old friend of Chinese people, he will as always support and promote the relationship between Greece and China.