German Chancellor: 'Greece Has Made Substantial Progress'

(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) German Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised the "substantial progress" Greece has made in its economic reforms. Visiting Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said his government intended to continue its course. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greece's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras attend a news conference after talks in Berlin, reported Deutsche Welle online. Merkel and Samaras sought to focus on the positives after their meeting on Friday, amid some European dissatisfaction with Greece's budget for 2014, presented to parliament in Athens on Thursday. "Greece has made substantial progress," Merkel told reporters in Berlin, saying the country had earned "a little bit of trust" from its partners and creditors. The German chancellor said that although further economic reforms were still required, "there is a light at the end of the tunnel." Prime Minister Samaras, meanwhile, sought to assure Merkel that his government would stick to its current course of austerity. "We are ready to deliver. And we will not be stopping," Samaras said, adding that he did not believe Greece would ultimately require a third package of emergency loans.