Development Minister Nikos Dendias met with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Economic Affairs and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel in Berlin. The Greek minister’s meeting with Schaeuble was held in a lasted for over an hour and “covered all issues concerning the Greek economy”, including taxation.

“We discussed a lot about the issue of taxation: how the Greek economy could operate in a framework with fewer taxes and with powerful growth tools that could help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the funding they need to grow,” said Dendias. The men agreed that Germany’s public investment bank KfW would provide another 30 million euros for a second fund created by the Institution for Growth in Greece, following an initial commitment for 100 million euros to provide loans for businesses. The second amount would be further feathered by 30 million euros from France’s Caisse des Depots, 50 million from the European Investment Bank and 40 million from the Onassis Foundation.

Berlin officials told Dendias that Germany would support Greek use of EU structural funds to refinance business loans.”We agreed with Gabriel that in order to overcome the symptoms of the crisis, the Greek economy should be supported to enter the virtuous cycle of growth. Gabriel was kind enough to endorse the Greek government’s plans so as to achieve growth,” he added.

Dendias visited Germany following an invitation extended by Gabriel, two weeks prior to Greek ministers meetings with the troika in Paris.

Gabriel will return the Greek minister’s visit with a trip to Athens in March along as chief of a German delegation of business representatives to examine investment opportunities in Greece.