At the central focus of the formation of a sustainable and effective framework for the mobility of India to Greece, the event was held on Thursday, May 15, at the Benaki Museum (Piraeus 138), the event entitled “Labor Power Mobility”: The event was co -organized by the Embassy of India in Athens and the Law Firm “Sioufas and Associates”, with the support of Dynamic Staffing Services, which has extensive experience in the field of staffing and working mobility internationally.

The discussions focused on the opportunities and challenges of the employment of specialized Indian workers in Greece, emphasizing the need for a sustainable and moral framework that will enhance business competitiveness.

The event was opened with his greeting by the Ambassador of India to Athens, SA. Mr Rudrendra Tandon, who pointed out that the visits of the Prime Ministers of Greece and India over the past two years had the consequence of the political mandate at the officials on both sides to work to develop mechanisms that would enable the Greek industry to exploit the largest workshop. To fulfill this high -level political mandate, negotiations have already begun on an intergovernmental agreement, but given the technical complexity and sensitivity of the issue, it will take a long time to complete the negotiations. In the meantime, the Embassy’s commercial wing wanted to organize an event to present to the Greek industry a second possible mechanism for the utilization of the Indian High Specialization workforce.

At the beginning of his speech, the ambassador made a clear distinction between the concept of labor force mobility for economic purposes and the issue of immigration, which is a completely different concept. The ambassador said that the second mechanism he wanted to present is based on the use of High quality Indian labor companies, which could successfully associate Greek companies, with high -quality workforce, available in India. He described this mechanism as “a mechanism of the private sector with the centered market”, which could operate within the existing Greek labor licenses. He drew attention to the key to successful use of this mechanism is always working with renowned staff finding in India, with long experience and long business history.

Mr. George Sioufas, Managing Partner & Founder, Sioufas & Associates Law Firm, stressed that although the Greek workers’ work licenses is currently characterized by delays and bureaucracy, the creation of talent bridges between Greece and India through specific interventions can be achieved. These include a process of rapid monitoring of high demand professions, digital integration of interested employment of employment, movement, such as the fast track process for high demand specialties, digital integration and proposal to create a digital portal by interconnecting the Metaklis Platform with Metaklisis. Bilateral Intergovernmental Agreement of Greece-India modeling the corresponding one between the already existing Indian-Germany model and the creation of a specialized Help Desk and a specialized Help Desk in Athens and Thessaloniki. “Employee mobility is business oxygen for a better tomorrow,” he said.

Then, the President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Greece, Mr. Yiannis Bratakos, spoke, stressing that the calling of employees is an indispensable solution to meet immediate needs in catering, tourism, building and helping to create networks promoting it. The lack of employees, moreover, directly affects the competitiveness of businesses and overall the Greek economy. For him, the role of transnational cooperation is critical to cover the mechanisms of utilization and return of workers, and added that it is important for bilateral agreements, such as the one with India, to have regulated flows, as well as to secure rights for all sides. It is also necessary to have knowledge of the number of employees and what positions they can fill. Finally, he added that the EBEA has the willingness to inform and guide, through the special platform, where its members record their needs in workforce and stressed that the chambers should take an active role in collaboration with regions and employers.

For his part, Mr. Marinos Giannopoulos, CEO, Enterprise Greece, stressed that the workshop is an important initiative that supports the government’s efforts to find sustainable staffing solutions that will help to enhance the competitiveness of Greek businesses. According to Mr. Giannopoulos, the Greek state issues licenses for employees every year, there are pregnancy, some long -term agreements are made, but it remains room for improvement. “India has enormous potential, it has a low average labor force and in Enterprise Greece we provide business helps to get to know this environment and find solutions to cover jobs through the recent creation of a common platform for Greece – India and Cyprus. This can be the beginning of new bilateral deals on the gap in the labor market, to a viable model of mobility, “he said.

The practical part of the process of finding a job was mentioned by Mr. Varun Khosla, Managing Director, Dynamic Staffing Services. In his speech, he emphasized, giving figures, the estimated lack of workforce in Greece, in the fields of construction, tourism, shipping, agriculture and energy. As he pointed out, “India is the solution. More than 2 million Indians are currently working abroad and are familiar with global work standards. ” He noted that possible obstacles could be overcome by working with Indian labor companies, which, if they have offices in Greece, are willing to be held accountable locally, and would also ensure high quality recruitment results for Greek companies.

Mr Khosla supported the rigorous evaluation, as well as the inspection of the recruitment companies, to exclude companies that show unprofessionalism and those that are immoral and unreliable. The criteria for a high quality staff recruitment company, capable of providing successful mobility, include cultural integration before and after arrival, providing education in the Greek language, combining online and personal interviews in India and choosing workers with previous international experience. He also noted that “the procedure for the invocation may be slowly late, but it works”, and has mentioned its existing customers, including large Greek companies with constant business. “We are not talking about cheap work, but mainly of specialized, quality employees,” Mr Khosla said.

In the second section of the event, they developed the legal framework and procedure of reset in Greece, Mrs Olga Efkidou, Head of Legal and the Senior Associate of Sioufas & Associates Law Firm, Mr Marikai Papadopoulou and shared their valuable experience by Mr. Alexandros Fourlas. by Goldair Handling and Mr. Ioannis Vellios, Group People & Culture Director of Zeus International Hotels & Resorts.

For more information and the full program, visit the official website: https://workforcemobility.gr