“After the announcement of his decision to complete his parliamentary career, Mr. Kostas Karamanlis received many worthwhile cooperation proposals. The extremely honorable proposal of the Board of the Cooperative Union of Tobacco Producers of Greece (SEKE) to assume the position of the president of the Group meets a number of criteria that weighed on the final decision of Mr. Karamanlis to accept it” note associates of the former prime minister and add:

“- The importance of the primary sector for the Greek economy, regional development and social cohesion is enormous.

– SEKE is not owned, managed, or dependent on a natural person. It is a cooperative enterprise that is essentially controlled by the producers themselves.

– SEKE is a model, modern, healthy, dynamically developing and extroverted Greek company. With a dominant position in the domestic market, but also a strong and constantly growing presence in SE Europe.

– SEKE is now in the phase of implementing a new ambitious business plan that concerns the gathering, processing, standardization and promotion of branded agricultural products (olive oil, honey, fruit and juices) in the Greek but mainly in foreign markets.

SEKE is based in Xanthi and the center of its activities in Thrace. Its contribution to economic development, social cohesion and the perspective of Thrace is particularly important.”