The meeting which was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Development Minister Notis Mitarakis and the chief executive of Qatar Holdings, Ahmad Al-Sayed, included at least seven businesses in the tourism, energy and foods sectors, based on the request made by the Qatari side.

Discussion focused on the creation of a fund to support small and medium-sized investment activity, dealing mainly with technical details regarding its structure, operation and method of financing so that it will not clash with Community law.

The agreement was reached during a visit by Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who was accompanied by his development and defence ministers and a team of Greek business leaders.

Yet while Samaras’s meeting with the government in Doha had concluded that the subsidy fund would start with 2 billion euros, half from each side, it appears that due to a lack of funds and European legislation that could raise obstacles, Greece will not necessarily have to contribute any money to an investment, daily Kathimerini reports.

Qatar is apparently also examining its possible participation in another institution that the Greek government intends to create, the Hellenic Investment Fund.

A Development ministry source told Kathimerini that the meeting discussed three ways of financing the joint fund, through which Qatar plans to subsidize Greek enterprises. These are joint funding by the Greek and Qatari states, funding only by Qatar, and funding with capital originating from Qatar as well as other countries or investment banks in other countries such as France and Germany.

Last month Qatar returned as a candidate in the international competition process to develop Hellinikon, the Greek airport site on the city’s southern coast.

Meanwhile a report in Tuesday’s Financial Times stated that the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), is not only interested in the development of the Greek capital’s former airport, but also in the operation of the new Athens International Airport, seeing it as a potential hub for Qatar Airways.

The same report notes Qatar’s interest in the Astir Palace Hotel at Vouliagmeni, southern Athens.

The 5 million euro deal for Oxia, the largest of the islands at 1,236 acres, was agreed last year but had been caught up in delay obtaining land use permits from Greek forestry officials, according to the Financial Times.

The island of Oxia, located in the Ionian Sea, was initially for sale at 6.9 million euros, but the imposition of rising property taxes led to a greatly reduced price.

The emir also agreed to a 3.5 million euro deal last week for a further five islands nearby.

Ithaca’s mayor, Ioannis Kassianos, said: “When you buy an island, even if you are the emir of Qatar, it takes a year and a half for all the paperwork to go through,” The Guardian reported.

The world’s most powerful monetary institutions, including the IMF, are pressuring Greece to privatise its islands in order to reduce its sovereign debts.

Last month, following a visit to Doha by the Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, a Greek government spokesman announced that Qatar had returned as a candidate in the competition process to develop former Hellinikon airport.

Qatari government has signed a contract that gives the right to participate anew in the competition process, one month after Diar Real Estate Investment Co., a unit of Qatar Investment Authority, didn’t proceed to the second phase of a tender for the Hellenikon project in January.

One of the most attractive pieces of property in the country, it was scheduled to become Europe’s biggest park but is being turned over for development as part of the country’s accelerated privatization plans to bring in cash to the indebted country.

The three other bidders are Elbin Cochin Ltd. from Israel, London & Regional Properties from the U.K. and Lamda Development SA (LAMDA.AT) of Greece.