Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund will invest $1 billion in European Goldfields Ltd., including $600 million to finance the London-based company’s gold-mining projects in Greece.

Ahmad al-Sayed, the CEO of Qatar Holdings LLC, told reporters on Saturday that the group is “examining different opportunities in the country,” which is in its worst recession in four decades.

The deal was signed in the presence of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and Qatar Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani. It comes a year after Qatar pledged to invest $5 billion into Greece’s debt-ravaged economy.