Greek Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis wrote an article in Sunday’s issue of Kathimerini newspaper underlining that the Greek economy has all the requirements necessary to leave its past behind.

“We are gradually leaving behind six years of recession, unemployment, lower income, pain and anger,” he writes. “The challenge we are facing is to look at the future from a different perspective than we had in the past.” The article goes on to state that “Greece is changing for the better.”

“The country is moving closer to the end of the adjustment program and now is the time to commit to a national growth plan, not because it is a requirement for receiving loans but because we believe that it is a necessary precondition for the prosperity of our country and macroeconomic sustainability in the demanding environment of the euro.”

Mr. Hardouvelis pinpoints that efforts should be made on casting the focus on increasing exports and making Greece attractive to foreign investors. He also stressed that “the economy can no longer be consumption-driven”.

The finance minister went on to note that the national plan supports sectors in which the country has strong comparative advantages, such as tourism, high quality agricultural production, energy, logistics, shipping, pharmaceuticals, metal industry, construction materials, business services and research.

The minister underlined that a developed country like Greece cannot focus on sectors that are based on cheap labor, noting that the national growth plan focuses on increasing the value added of products and services through the incorporation of greater technological content, innovation and knowledge.