Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou (L) shakes hands with Abdallah bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan, his counterpart of United Arab Emirates in Athens, capital of Greece, on April 27, 2010. Photo: Xinhua

The Greek government signed an agreement to strengthen political collaboration with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on foreign matters on Tuesday during a visit by UAE Foreign Minister sheikh Abdallah bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias, Prime Minister George Papandreou and Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas met Abdallah separately. The dynamic of further economic cooperation between the two countries was stressed during the meetings.

The UAE has recently invested in the Greek shipyards of Skaramangas near Athens, while many Greek enterprises operate in the UAE for years.

Welcoming sheikh Abdallah bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan, Papoulias referred to the economic crisis that has hit Greece and Dubai. " Greece is going through a hard time for which we are not entirely responsible, but there are also other reasons such as the speculative games," he said while expressing optimism for a positive outcome.

During his talks with Greek officials, the UAE foreign minister replied that investors from his country are most willing to operate in Greece in new sectors, such as renewable energy sources, apart from tourism and culture.