During the opening of the 5th EU-Arab World Summit on Monday, Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, expressed his belief that Greece will emerge victorious from the coronavirus pandemic.
“I am sure the Greek economy will experience a very robust recovery once a coronavirus vaccine is found,” Mitsotakis said in an online discussion with CNN journalist John Defterios.
READ MORE: Greek CEO of Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective.
“In Greece, savings are increasing, which means that people will want to spend when the pandemic is over. And businesses will want to invest. And smart companies are already investing.”
Mitsotakis mentioned a primary interest in the hotel and tourism sectors and beyond, as in the investments of Abu Dhabi Capital Group LLC in fish farming and state-of-the-art food technologies.
He also spoke of investments by Microsoft in building three large-scale data centers in Greece and by Volkswagen in turning the Greek island of Astypalea into a smart e-mobility model.
READ MORE: Microsoft plans $1 billion data center venture in Greece.
In addition, he noted, financial institutions have expressed interest post-Brexit in establishing a presence in Greece.
“We offer enough incentives to allow them to do that. Greece must turn into a financial hub for the greater region,” the Prime Minister said.
The pandemic has created investment opportunities at European level as well, he added, as the EU now “borrows as a supranational entity to strengthen the member states.”
Mitsotakis said the EU recovery fund will also assist in the recovery, which will be accompanied by investment and increased consumption after the vaccine becomes available.
READ MORE: EU recovery fund deal hailed a ‘national success’ as Greece to receive €72 billion.
“The coronavirus pandemic will have winners and some losers. I’m convinced of that. And I am pretty sure that Greece will be on the side of the winners,” he said.
Regarding Greece-Turkey relations, the Prime Minister said Greece is ready for a discussion aimed at resolving problems in the context of international law.
Responding to a reporter’s question on whether Greece would be willing to share energy resources with Turkey, he clarified that “this is not something under discussion” and reiterated that the two countries first need to define and delimit maritime zones in a fair manner.
Source: Ekathimerini.
