On July 13 local time, President Xi Jinping made a technical stop at the island of Rhodes, Greece, on his way to Brazil to attend the sixth BRICS Summit and pay state visits to four Latin American countries. He met with the Greek leaders and exchanged views on the development of the bilateral relations with them.

Upon arrival at the Rhodes Diagoras International Airport, Xi Jinping received a warm welcome from Prime Minister Antonis Samaras of Greece, who came all the way from the capital city of Athens and led many cabinet ministers and the mayor of the city of Rhodes. Xi Jinping shook hands with Samaras beside the ramp and exchanged greetings with him. The local youth, dressed in traditional costumes, presented a bouquet to Xi Jinping, and the honor guards lined up on both sides along the red carpet and saluted Xi Jinping.

Xi Jinping said that both China and Greece boast ancient civilizations and profound traditional friendship, and have always enjoyed mutual understanding, mutual support and mutual help. During my stopover at Greece's island of Rhodes on the way to Latin America, President Karolos Papoulias and Prime Minister Samaras have come a long way to receive me, which fully reflects the Greek people's friendly affection toward the Chinese people and the great importance the Greek leaders and government attach to the China-Greece relations. Greece's economy is improving steadily, and China is willing to continue to support Greece within its capacity and enhance mutually beneficial cooperation with Greece so as to promote a constant development of China-Greece comprehensive strategic partnership.

Samaras warmly welcomed Xi Jinping to stop at Greece, and said that China is a good friend and good partner of Greece and the Greek government and people are pleased to receive President Xi Jinping. He wished President Xi Jinping's visit to Latin America a complete success.

Wang Huning, Li Zhanshu, Yang Jiechi and other delegation members arrived by the same plane.

H.E. Zou Xiaoli, Chinese Ambassador to Greece, also greeted the delegation at the airport.

It takes ten hours to fly from Beijing to Rhodes, Greece, and another 11 hours from Rhodes to Fortaleza, Brazil.