Putin Has High Hopes For Greek Business Meeting

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at a joint press conference with the Greek premier today that he believed a meeting he is due to hold with Greek business leaders tonight would not be too official, but would, nevertheless, "lead to specific agreements." After pointing out that the current trade turnover between the two countries clearly did not match its potential (it stands at 1.2-1.3 billion dollars), the president said that "the level of investment activity of Greek companies on the Russia market is even lower - practically nothing." Putin said that two ways of resolving this problem existed: cooperation between Russian and Greek companies in Greece or the direct participation of Greek companies in investment projects in Russia. Putin again declared that Russian companies were "ready to take part in the liberalisation of the Greek economy."