Politics: PM again rules out default, sees ‘positive’ climate in Davos

He stressed that his government had found huge levels of waste, mismanagement and lack of transparency when it had taken over and had already delivered half of the things agreed in the three-year Memorandum with the IMF and EU during the first year.

The prime minister stressed that Greece was doing everything that was necessary and needful to regain the confidence of the markets and had made significant progress in regaining competitiveness, boosting transparency and breaking into new sectors.

Papandreou also referred to a series of agreements for Chinese investments in Greece, stressing that these were a positive development. He said the goal was to convert Piraeus, which would receive a major Chinese investment, into a centre for innovation.

In talks with Greek correspondents at Davos, Papandreou said that the climate toward Greece in 2011 was greatly improved relative to 2010, talking of the “return of credibility to Greece”. He noted that the debt crisis was now being treated as European problem and not one that only concerned Greece.