The Greek society, despite the harsh measures it is suffering, is determined to fight the crisis, Greek Ambassador to Cyprus Vassilis Papaioannou said on Friday.

Addressing a working lunch titled “Investment opportunities in a changing Greece“, Papaioannou said that “despite the mistakes and delays, the difficulties, great and painful, we will tackle them and we will not let any circles bet on bankruptcy or the country`s exit from the Eurozone,“ adding that “our aim is stability, development, progress and prosperity.“

Referring to bilateral economic relations, he said Greece remains Cyprus` main supplier of consumer goods, with bilateral trade increasing by 7.6% in 2010, compared to 2009, while direct investments in Cyprus are calculated by the Central Bank of Cyprus at 940 million euros for 2010, recording an increase of 21.4% compared to 2009.

Papaioannou noted that Greece remains a shipping power globally, covering 41.49% of European shipping. Furthermore, its contribution to the Greek economy in 2010 reached 140 billion euros, an amount three-and-a-half times larger