ZTE begins operations at Piraeus

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras visited the port of Piraeus on Wednesday morning in order to be present at the signing of an agreement between ZTE and COSCO in order for the former to begin the operation of European transit center in Piraeus.

ZTE is Corporation (formerly Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation) is a Chinese multinational telecoms manufacturer, currently the world's fourth largest mobile phone manufacturer and the world's fifth-largest telecoms equipment maker. Mr. Hou Weiguo, the Chairman of ZTE corporation, founded Zhongxing Semiconductor Co. Ltd in 1985, and it changed into ZTE corporation in 1997 after a decade of development.

COSCO's Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT) commenced operations on 1 October 2009 and has gradually been converted into the first large scale state-of-the-art modern container terminal in Greece. COSCO believes that it will be a challenging but achievable task to win the confidence of the customers to bring the container throughput to the peak volumes of 3.7m TEUs.

In his address Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, noted that “The port of Piraeus is a vehicle for strong growth for the whole of Greece. It is a main gateway, an international transit node, now linked with country's railroad infrastructure and therefore with eastern and central Europe.”

Mr Samaras not only hailed the signing of an agreement between ZTE and COSCO, “two colossal companies that effectively utilize this infrastructure and are successfully active within this novel framework of trust and stability that we are building today in our country,” but also noted that the specific agreement is the first phase of a long-term investment that is expected to create around 600 job positions by its completion.

As the premier noted the next phases of the investment include the creation of returns and repairs center for the broader northeastern Europe and the rapid transformation of this center into an assembly line.

The new agreement is considered the foot-in-the-door of many more companies that will invest in Greece seeking a gateway to the soft underbelly of Europe.