Greece casts wide net for investors

Greece is casting a wide net for investors in China, the Arab World and even old rival Turkey in a desperate bid to revive its flagging economy and soften the impact of hugely unpopular debt cuts.

As the Greek Prime Minister wooed potential investors in Beirut this week, officials in Athens pitched trade projects to Chinese commercial giant Cosco just days after scores of Turkish businessmen were treated to talks.

The Socialist government has been at pains to assure investors that they will be safe from paralysing strikes and the stifling red tape that have been a dominant feature of the Greek business landscape for decades.

"Bureaucracy and corruption have been the basic obstacles to investment in our country," Greek PM George Papandreou told parliament.

"We are making a labourious effort to attract productive, not parasitic, investment," he said.

Papandreou last week hosted his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan who was accompanied by around 100 businessmen.

Old rivals Athens and Ankara agreed to step up contacts, hoping to bury differences and eventually eliminate a costly arms race. With a debt of €300 billion ($372bn) and a rescue package from the European Union and the IMF earned only after deep austerity cuts, Greece urgently needs to boost output and create jobs.

Four general strikes have been held since February against draconian spending cuts and tax rise, with the latest on Thursday.

Speaking in Beirut as thousands of protestors marched in Athens, Papandreou appealed to Arab nations to invest, touting Greece as "investment friendly" and promising to "personally" oversee efforts to woo foreign companies.

"Greece is changing rapidly and... we invite you all to join us," the PM said at the opening of a two-day Arab Economic Forum.

"Greece today is an opportunity for new business, but also an opportunity to further strengthen our historical and cultural ties," he said.

"We are limiting bureaucracy, making our economy investment friendly. We are passing new legislation so that new companies can... [obtain a] licence right away, while in the past it took many months," he added. Then on Friday Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmoud said during a visit to Athens that his country stood ready to help Greece emerge from the crisis.

"We have the political will to support Greece and help it get out of the difficult period that it is going through," he said.

Mahmoud said his country "is ready to co-operate with Greece on green energy, power generation and tourism as well as increase Libyan investments in Greece." Another prominent potential investor, Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani, recently lectured Greece on the need for speed. "Qatar wishes to invest five billion dollars in Greece but this offer requires monitoring and determination on both sides to take decisions and implement them," he said in early May after talks with Papandreou.

Qatari funds are currently being poured into a liquefied natural gas and power plant in the port of Astakos in Western Greece.

Earlier in the year, the Abu Dhabi Mar group took over struggling Hellenic Shipyards near Athens after the previous German owners ThyssenKrupp pulled out.

Greece's abundant port facilities, the quality of its world-leading merchant fleet and its strategic location as a gateway into the Balkans and Europe has also drawn interest from Chinese global commercial giant Cosco.

The Chinese company last year signed with Greece a 35-year concession to expand the two main container terminals at the main Greek port of Piraeus for a guaranteed premium of €3.4bn.

With Cosco's top brass in town this week to review progress on the deal, Greek officials tried to pitch more projects including a new logistics hub in Thriasio, west of Athens, and the sale of Greece's state rail firm OSE.

"Cosco has a major plan to build the port of Piraeus into the greatest container hub in the Eastern Mediterranean area, and we will create a logistics centre in Piraeus," Cosco Chief Executive Wei Jiafu told reporters.

Asked about the impact of strikes, Wei said he had a pledge from President Carolos Papoulias that the plan will face no obstacles.

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