On October 26 local time, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Jia Qinglin met in Crete with Stavros Arnaoutakis, Governor of Crete province, Greece.

Jia said that the Greek government helped a lot with the evacuation of Chinese citizens from Libya in March this year. Governor Arnaoutakis personally went to the port to receive the first group of Chinese arriving at Crete, governments at all levels and the people of Crete all extended warm and friendly assistances to the Chinese citizens, making them feel the warmth in a foreign country. It shows the profound friendship of the Greek people with the Chinese people. He expressed sincere gratitude to the Greek government and people, especially the Crete provincial government.

He noted that China and Greece, as eastern and western ancient civilizations, both have made outstanding contributions to the progress of human society. The two peoples always admire each other's glorious culture. The two sides should strengthen cultural exchanges to do more for the contacts between eastern and western civilizations and for world peace. The Chinese government will actively support its provinces and cities to step up mutually beneficial cooperation with Crete in the fields of economy, trade, tourism and agriculture. He believes Crete will play an important role in China-Greece friendly cooperation.

Arnaoutakis extended sincere and warm welcome to Jia and said his visit brings honor to all the Greek people including people of Crete and will effectively enhance the bilateral exchanges and cooperation at national and local levels. He noted that Prime Minister Papandreou called them to try their best to help with the evacuation of Chinese citizens from Libya immediately after receiving the request from China. Greece and China are sincere friends and ancient civilizations. The two sides should cement cooperation under current circumstances to cope with challenges and make contributions to world peace and prosperity.

Vice-Chairman and Secretary-General of the National Committee of the CPPCC Qian Yunlu and Chinese Ambassador to Greece Du Qiwen were present at the meeting.