The most outward oriented Greek businesses were honoured during an event held at the Piraeus Port Authorities hall Thursday. A message of hope that Greek businesses were not only succeeding domestically, but also expanding outside the borders was the core theme during the ‘Active Greece Awards 2016-Greece of extroversion’ event. Greek Minister for Economy, Shipping, Infrastructure and Tourism Giorgos Stathakis underlined that Europe was at a crossroads that leads to the democratic management of the refugee and economic crises. ‘Greece was and will remain the country of democracy and solidarity’, he said, adding that the role of the export sector of Greece was not only a financial one but a social one as well. Stathakis expressed the view that Greece would return to positive growth rates until the 3rd quarter of 2016. Among the attendees were representative of opposition party New Democracy, as well as businesspeople.