Premier Li Keqiang extended a congratulatory letter to the 82nd Thessaloniki International Fair in Greece on Saturday at local time.

China is the honored country in this year's exhibition. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras attended the exhibition's opening ceremony and visited China's pavilions.

Premier Li said in the letter that China attended the fair in 1998 as the exhibition's first honored country, which was a new "bridge" to promote economic and trade exchanges between China and Europe.

That was not only of historic significance for the development of the expo itself, but also has elevated the development of China-EU and China-Greece relations to a new stage, he said.

Over the past 19 years, China and Greece have made great leaps in deepening political mutual trust and achieving outstanding progress in exchanges and cooperation in various fields, the premier said. For example, the Piraeus port project has made abundant achievements, he said.

The premier also said China is willing to work with Greece and other countries to better align the Belt and Road Initiative with their development strategies, which will create wider common interests, carry out mutually beneficial cooperation and help further recovery of the global economy to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth.

Tsipras said during the ceremony that China's Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping, is of great importance to global development. That China is the honored country this year indicates that bilateral relations have reached a new height, which will further promote mutually beneficial cooperation, he said.

The fair is one of the most influential expos in South Europe and more than 100 Chinese companies are participating in the event this year.