US 'has a stake' in Greek recovery: Biden

The United States has a stake in Greece's economic recovery and wants the crisis-hit nation to stay in the eurozone, US Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview published Thursday.

"The administration has always taken the view that it's overwhelmingly in our interest to have Greece remain a strong and vital part of the eurozone," Biden told the Kathimerini newspaper ahead of a White House visit by Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

"We have a stake in Greece's success," he said, noting the "enormous sacrifice" Greeks have made over the past four years under sweeping austerity measures imposed in return for an international bailout.

Samaras will hold talks with US President Barack Obama later Thursday after meeting New York investors and is also due to see UN chief Ban Ki-moon and American Jewish Committee leaders on Friday.

Jewish leaders have repeatedly expressed alarm over the rise in Greece of Golden Dawn, a neo-Nazi party whose xenophobic rhetoric is attracting wide support among crisis-weary Greeks.

Samaras is keen to secure US approval for stimulus policies for Greece's recession-hit economy, in contrast to the austerity emphasis preferred by many of its European partners, most notably Germany.

The IMF has also been pushing for a new write-down of Greek debt by eurozone partner governments in the way banks wrote off most of the loans due to them last year, but Germany has ruled this out.

In his interview, Biden said American officials were also looking forward to discussing Greece's assumption of the rotating EU presidency in January.

He said shared goals include expanding US-EU trade and supporting efforts to end the conflict in Syria.