Development Minister: More than 100 companies are interested in meetings in Davos

The Minister of Development and Investment, Adonis Georgiadis, met with businessmen and senior executives of companies and investment schemes from all over the world in Davos, within the framework of the World Economic Forum, and noted very high investment interest for Greece.

As he said, speaking to SKAI tv, more than 100 companies have expressed interest in meeting him, as well as Deputy Minister of Development Christos Dimas and Minister of Shipping Giannis Plakiotakis.

He added that the Prime Minister, who is going to Davos to participate in the work of the World Economic Forum, will have high-level meetings with giant companies and large investment funds.

A vote of confidence for Greece

Speaking to GHD – Greek House in Davos on two topics related to investments, Adonis Georgiadis pointed out that “the World Economic Forum Davos coincides with very good news for the Greek economy. The European Commission has officially announced that during the summer Greece will leave the supervision of the institutions, as we have complied with the agreements and we have completed the reform program, as we had committed. The EU has therefore announced that it will take extra steps to alleviate our debt.

So, today, the Greek economy received a strong vote of confidence from European partners. This did not come by chance but is the result of very hard work under very hard and unprecedented conditions, which our Government had to face during the three years of our rule.

This is because in the beginning, when we took over, our interest was focused on the implementation of those reforms that would contribute to the transformation of Greece into a country with an investment-friendly environment. We were sure that this policy would attract foreign direct investment, as it did.

“Then came the pandemic, everything changed and we had to adapt to a very different environment. And unfortunately, just towards the end of the pandemic, Russia invaded Ukraine and now we are facing different challenges, very difficult, to be honest.”

He also noted that in 2021 Greece had the third best performance in the EU and the eurozone in terms of GDP growth, by 8.3%, while achieving the largest increase in the last 18 years in foreign direct investment, the fact that which he described as “a great success, given the circumstances”.

“In 2022, as we see things today, because this war creates challenges that no one, in fact, can predict, it also seems to be a year of growth for the Greek economy, with a growth rate of more than 3%,” said the Minister of Development.

Investments

Regarding investments, the competent minister stressed that: “Investments are going really well. And I can tell you that the war not only did not hinder investments in Greece but I dare say – without misunderstanding – that it helped us a little. “And this is because suddenly the global business community realized that Greece is a country with stability in political and macroeconomic level – perhaps the most stable country in the wider region.”

He placed special emphasis on renewable energy sources, pointing out that “the RES sector has huge prospects in Greece, which has natural advantages which are obvious to everyone. And as a government, we have changed the legislation and speeded up the licensing process to such an extent that if one comes to invest now in Greece, it is very easy to get a license for a wind farm, for example. That is why Greece attracts many investors from almost all over the world. Very large companies in the energy sector have already come to Greece this year and very large companies will come in the coming months.”

Information technologies

Among other things, Mr. Georgiadis referred to investments in the country, by giants in the field of information technology and communication: “Apart from energy, an attractive sector for investment in Greece is information and communication technologies. I am very proud that in these three years we have managed to attract the most foreign direct investment in this sector, something we never imagined before. Pfizer, Microsoft, Digital Realty, Amazon Web Services, Meta (Facebook), all these global giants and many others chose Greece for their investments “.

“All of them choose Greece because there is stability at the political and macroeconomic level and they find highly qualified scientific potential. Both of these factors are very important for businesses.

We have a lot of qualified people in the IT field. During the crisis most people went abroad to work. This was the brain drain phenomenon. Now they are starting to return.”

“We believe that in this field, really, Greece has great potential, this is the belief and the dream of our Prime Minister. That’s why he and my colleague Christos Dimas have given me the responsibility and the means to build this digital technology society and attract people to the field. And it seems to be working.”

“We are still at the beginning, we still have a lot to do. It may be an exaggeration to say that a new Silicon Valley is being created in Greece, but the truth is that a large digital ecosystem is developing around these companies. And do you know how the market moves? When the first and the second and the third come, then the rest follow because this creates a technological ecosystem with multiplier value.”

“In the new knowledge economy we are not number 1 internationally but we aspire to become, to be honest. And we will achieve it in a few years”, the minister concluded.