During the Prime Minister’s visit to Canadain the next few days, the agreement for the acquisition of new Canadair firefighting planes will be completed, according to an interview granted by Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the major Canadian newspaper “The Globe and Mail”.

“This is a big market for Greece,” the prime minister said, according to the publication, noting that the total cost of the supply of the new planes from Canadian De Havilland amounts to approximately 360 million euros.

The agreement provides for the purchase of five DHC-515 aircraft through the “Aegis” equipment program for the needs of the Fire Service and two more through the rescEU civil protection mechanism of The European Union. The last two will be based in Greece and will operate normally in our country, but will have as a priority European aid missions in case of major fires in another country.

The newspaper notes that Greece, like Canada, is facing more and more severe firefighting seasons and our country wants to strengthen its fleet of firefighting aircraft.

In addition to the deal on the new Canadair, the prime minister is expected to meet with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau, engage with the diaspora and the diaspora and present the business community of Canada, a G7 member, with the investment opportunities offered by the recovery and development of the Greek economy.

In the interview, Kyriakos Mitsotakis describes “inexplicable” the gap of 41 years since the last visit of a Greek prime minister to Canada, “given the strong ties” between the two countries. “I had made it a priority to visit Canada officially to discuss with the Greek-Canadian community and talk about the economic aspect of our cooperation,” notes Mr. Mitsotakis.

According to “The Globe and Mail”, during his visit to Canada, Mr. Mitsotakis will convey the message that Greece’s economy is no longer a “lost cause” and that the country is open for investment with the aim of becoming one of the technology and logistics hubs of the Mediterranean, adding that the Greek economy has one of the top performances in Europe.

In particular, the newspaper points out that in recent years, Greece has followed a strategy of tax cuts, fairer bankruptcy law, rationalization and digitization of its public services, acceleration of privatization and ridding its banks of a large number of non-performing loans so they can lend again. .

The publication even hosts a recent statement by the Canadian mega-investor Prem Watsamanaging director of Fairfax which has significant property in Greece, who described our country as “the best country in Europe for investments”.