Greece and Qatar Friday signed a framework for the Gulf emirate to make investments in the debt-strapped country worth $5 billion over the next few years, the government said.

The memorandum was executed in New York by Harris Pamboukis, who is the Greek minister of state in charge of securing and speedily implementing investments, and by Ahmad Al Sayyed an executive of the Qatar Investment Authority.

"The memorandum shows the serious interest of the international community to make investments in Greece now that it has a stable, credible and effective government," Prime Minister George Papandreou said on national television channel ANT1.

Greece and Qatar are expected to set up a joint committee to identify possible investment projects in tourism, real-estate development, infrastructure, finance and energy.

However, no specific projects have been identified by the two states at this initial stage.

The socialist government of the cash-strapped Mediterranean state is working on an investment "fast track" law in the hope of attracting large investment projects to pull itself out of recession and reverse the trend of rising unemployment.

The Greek economy is expected to contract by 4% of gross domestic product this year and unemployment is already at 12%. That is due in part to the implementation of fiscal consolidation and unprecedented austerity cuts demanded by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union in exchange for a EUR110 billion bailout.

In May, Qatar and Greece signed another non-binding memorandum for the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal and a power station at the western Greek port city of Astakos .

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