Funds totaling 3.3 billion euros for investments in new technologies in various European countries and cooperation of five national development banks are the key elements of the agreement signed, in the framework of the “Growing Together” initiative, at a special event at Zappeion Megaron, in which was attended by the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“What I want to point out to those of you who are thinking of investing in Greece, is that this is not just a country that has a stable and reform-oriented government. This is not just a country that has natural comparative advantages such as sun or wind. It is also a country with huge human capital. And this is especially important to me.
“Human capital is huge in Greece”
If you focus on technology, I believe that what many foreign companies in Greece saw was the quality of our engineers, more economical for European data, who know how to work extremely hard. Every company that has invested in Greece has only good words to say about the human capital of the country.
And the other dimension that you must not forget is that Greece ‘lost’ 500,000 young people who left during the crisis. These are extremely talented young people, who take risks, and have left Greece. And for the first time, they plan to return to Greece “, the Prime Minister pointed out in a discussion he had in the framework of the” Growing Together “initiative, with the CEO of Bpifrance, Nicolas Dufourcq, for the strengthening of entrepreneurship and the new investment opportunities presented by Greece, as well as for the legislative initiatives that make Greece an attraction for investors.
As Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed, “we must look more systematically at cooperation, trans-European cooperation, at the level of Small and Medium Enterprises. The big multinationals, the French multinationals that were present in Greece, I think they know the landscape quite well. But if we are going to talk about a truly European common market, it’s the Small and Medium Enterprisesthose who need to work more closely together.
Underneath the big multinationals, there are thousands of companies in Greece, France and other European countries that are present and need to understand that ultimately investing in another European country should be something very natural for them. It does not have to be very, very complicated. At the end of the day, this is our common market. This is our advantage. We need to create a scale at European level. “
On the initiative Growing Together National banks and investment institutions from Greece, France, Germany, Finland and Denmark are participating, with the aim of increasing the capacity of European development funds to provide 3.3 billion in financing to EU-based technology companies in the next 3 up to 5 years. It is worth noting that this initiative will enable entrepreneurs in each country to invest in some of the rest of the scheme, thus strengthening the interconnection of the European business ecosystem.
“When we took over the government, the Development Bank it was essentially a “shell” with no real content. And in less than three years it was established as a very important presence in Greece. “It was also very useful as an institution during the pandemic, where we supported Greek companies to ensure the protection of jobs,” said the prime minister.
“To ensure the development course”
“For us, the real goal is to ensure that we continue our development. We are facing many crises, with the latter bringing us particular challenges in terms of energy prices. But at the same time, every crisis is an opportunity. And when we see what is happening at this time with energy, of course, in the short term, we will support households and businesses to absorb as much as possible price increases.
But at the end of the day, the concept of green transition becomes more important not only in terms of climate, but also from a geopolitical point of view. We need more energy independence. In two days I will go to Western Macedonia, which was the area where lignite is traditionally mined, to inaugurate the largest photovoltaic park currently operating in Greece.
So every crisis presents opportunities. And my encouragement, especially to foreign investors, is to take a good look at what is happening in Greece because you will find, I think, extremely interesting opportunities, as well as people trained in finance, but also at government level to help you explore what is happening in the Greek market “, added Mr. Mitsotakis.
The signing of the cooperation protocol took place at an event co-organized by the French Development Bank Bpifrance, the Hellenic Development Bank and the Hellenic Development Investment Bank, under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Development and Investment. Earlier, Mr. Mitsotakis had a meeting with Mr. Dufourcq at the Maximos Palace.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
