The prime minister had a discussion with businessman Nik Nanos Kyriakos Mitsotakis in the context of its event Economic Club Canada in Toronto, highlighting the opportunities opening up for investments in Greece.

Asked by his interlocutor to go back to 2019 and remember the first 100 days of his prime ministership, Mr. Mitsotakis described the economic situation in which the country was then, “still under the supervision of European institutions and considered by many as the “black sheep” of Europe, when it was not an attractive investment destination” and emphasized that the government’s goal was to lead the country to a path of high growth. “Of course, the pandemic then had to be managed, but the government’s economic policy has been overall successful in that it has successfully reduced taxes without threatening the fiscal balance of macroeconomic projections, improved the regulatory environment by providing a stable and predictable framework for business that they would like to invest” he noted and said that he considered that the case of the Canadian mining company Eldorado Gold was in many ways indicative of the progress achieved. He explained that through this investment, many new jobs were created in a relatively poor area of ​​the country, while this economic activity certainly helps the country’s economy.

He stressed that this is just one example “as the government has managed to make the country an attractive investment destination in a number of sectors”.

Watch the prime minister’s speech:

The improvement of the image and environment recorded by relevant surveys is recognized by the markets and by investors, as he pointed out, “which is finally being demonstrated in practice unlike in 2020 when it was much more difficult to cultivate a climate of trust”. He certainly acknowledged that much remains to be done to improve but also to maintain what has been achieved.

When asked about how easily this progress was achieved, the Prime Minister emphasized that it was no cake walk. “There were quite a few obstacles. However, he managed to build a very good team and the fact that he had an absolute majority in the Parliament was something that helped the situation. Look at the European political environment right now. Governments do not have a very strong mandate. We don’t have a minority government” he said and referred to the example of Portugal.

He also mentioned as a milestone a meeting he had in Davos in January 2020 with Microsoft representatives and convinced them to make a large investment in Greece. He also considers the acceptance of the Greek proposal for a common fund to deal with the consequences of the pandemic by the EU very important.

He made special reference to the re-election of his government, when the Greek people gave it a majority after the double elections in 2023, it was something that made him feel that he had achieved the biggest and most crucial victory, managing to convince the citizens to trust him for another four years.

Then, following a related question, he emphasized that the economy is growing and believes that it will continue to grow at a better rate than the EU average. The deficit is coming down very fast and we have nothing to do with what went wrong ten years ago. We have put them behind us and have a stable economy with leading sectors such as tourism attracting investment. We are leaders in the renewable energy market and other sectors,” he said. He also pointed out that in SE Europe, our country is a center of technology.

The prime minister then spoke about the Greek-Canadian cooperation and the strong ties between the two countries, pointing out that the challenge is their further development and the approach of a new generation of investors.

Asked to deliver a message to the Greek Diaspora in Canada, the prime minister made reference to the postal vote. He emphasized that for the first time in these elections expatriates can vote by mail. He mentioned that initially polling centers were created in embassies where there is a Greek Diaspora. “Now we are going one step further to give everyone the opportunity to vote by postal vote” he said and emphasized that it is very important to have a large turnout in the upcoming European elections in order to convince even the most cautious in the Greek Parliament and to expand this flexibility of voting in national elections as well.

The prime minister also spoke about the purchase of Canadair and the strengthening of Civil Protection, about the impending increase in the minimum wage and about geopolitical issues of great importance and how they affect economies around the world.