Speech by the Minister of Development, Takis Theodoricakos, at the 28th annual Economist Government Roundtable:

“First of all, I would like to stress that I was pleased to accept the invitation for this panel, both because attracting investment is one of the critical responsibilities of the Ministry of Development and because the circular economy is an important sector that is attracting more and more investment.

At the same time, I am particularly pleased that an eminent representative of the business community from the circular economy sector, such as Mr. Panagiotis Mourgos of the TEHAN Group, is participating in this panel, who proves that Greece is an attractive destination for American investment in this sector as well.

However, the Government of the New Democracy and Kyriakos Mitsotakis is fully addressing the challenges and opportunities in all sectors of the economy, so I am particularly happy that my esteemed colleague, Mrs. Niki Kerameos, is with us today, because attracting investment and creating new jobs are simultaneous goals of our Government.

Transition to a climate-neutral but competitive economy

At this point, I would like to emphasize that sustainable development and the green transition has been a basic and main priority since the beginning of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government and remains as one of our declared key objectives, while significant steps have already been taken in this direction, highlighting Greece as a pioneer in the green transition throughout the European Union.

In order to understand the importance of the European Green Transition (known as the European Green Deal), suffice it to mention that the investment plan of the European Green Deal (called the European Green Deal Investment Plan) aims to activate at least €1 trillion of sustainable investments by 2030 ! This huge amount is for the public and private investments needed to transition to a climate-neutral, green and competitive economy.

Therefore, the main objective of the Greek Ministry of Development, which is responsible for attracting new investments, isto mobilize the relevant investment funds in the green transition sector, providing and developing an attractive investment environment for foreign and Greek investors.
Already since taking office at the Ministry of Development a few weeks ago, I have stressed that a key objective of mine is to create a new and sustainable
production model in our country.

We will develop a matrix of multi-level actions and incentives that will strengthen businesses and create an even more attractive environment for new investments, with the aim that Greece will attract new capital mainly from abroad (so that new money will flow into the Greek economy, which will leverage even more capital), and a significant part of which we expect to be investments for the green transition.

Increasing investment and tackling poverty in key productive sectors

I note that the Ministry of Development is responsible, in addition to Trade and the titanic struggle to tackle accuracy, for industry as well as research and technology.

All these sectors are directly related to the productive model of the country, so I will give special emphasis also to these sectors, in order to increase investment and develop businesses on the one hand (contributing significantly to the increase of public revenues through the taxation of their profits), and on the other hand to create more, permanent and well-paid jobs.

However, because in politics we must be judged by the consistency of our words with our deeds and our results, I would like to emphasize that the US-interested investment of TEXAN in the sector of cyclical economy proves that the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis is both consistent and has made Greece an attractive investment destination with multiple benefits for society, for the economy and for the environment.

I remember that in December 2019 I accompanied, in my capacity as the then Minister of Interior, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the inauguration of TEHRAN for the 1st plant for the production of high-tech US recycling machinery outside the US borders, in the presence of the then US Ambassador to Greece, my friend Geoffrey Pyatt.

Note that the European Commission unveiled the European Green Deal Investment Plan on January 14, 2020, a few days later.

This is further proof that our country can both pioneer and innovate, pointing other European countries in the right direction.

In closing, in my intervention today, I would like to emphasize, and from this platform, that the Ministry of Development will be the catalyst for the development of a new and sustainable production model of our country, in order to actively contribute to the further improvement of the conditions of social cohesion and well-being of our country’s citizens.”