Following the opening ceremony of the second China International Import Expo (CIIE), Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis sat down with CGTN in an exclusive interview covering a variety of topics, including Greece's participation in the second CIIE, China-Greece economic and cultural exchanges, and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) collaboration.

It is the second time that Greece has attended the CIIE, but this time Greece is one of the guests of honor.

Mitsotakis first spoke highly of President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the opening ceremony, pointing out "his focus on multilateral institutions and the importance he assigns to win-win solutions to complicated global problems" that make him find interesting.

"I was also struck by the emphasis he placed on opening up China's market to exports from other countries, which is particularly important for Europe and also my country Greece."

Xi Jinping says China will widen market access as CIIE opens

According to Eurostat, bilateral trade volume between Greece and China in 2018 reached 5.3 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 46.6 percent from the year before. Meanwhile, Greece's exports to China reached 1.06 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 96.5 percent.

"The progress we've made is significant," said the Greek prime minister, elaborating on further collaboration with one of China's major shipping companies that China is set to start in his country.

"I visited Cosco (Shipping) yesterday. They are very, very happy about the progress we've made. I am really looking forward to the investment that will take place in the port (Port of Piraeus). It will significantly upgrade its potential and the aim should be long-term to make Port Piraeus the biggest port in Europe," he said.

Greece was one of the first European economies to join the China-proposed BRI, and both nations signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) last August to jointly advance the projects. 

The Greek prime minister has also delivered hope to embrace more exchanges on various fronts.

Tourism serves as one of the key engines for bilateral ties. Roughly 200,000 Chinese tourists traveled to Greece in 2018. Greece is looking to double that number by the year 2020 with more changes in policies and measures for Chinese tourists put forth.

In the end, Mitsotakis voiced support for multilateralism and globalization, while hoping for a better future for Greece and China.

(CGTN's Wu Lei contributed to this report.)