It is often hard to comprehend how a reform is implemented in the labyrinthine Greek state. Moreover, efforts made at the bureaucratic and political level become lost in everyday life and the torrent of news dominating the media. As a result, even when the purpose of the reform is achieved, most times citizens are unable to understand precisely what their benefit was.
I will now focus on the political issue at stake for me, as the head of Economic Diplomacy, which aims at promoting the openness of the Greek economy and modernising the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to:
• help Greek entrepreneurs expand their activities;
• create conditions to attract foreign investments to Greece; and
• organise all the actions necessary to improve the country's image abroad.
However, the term Economic Diplomacy smacks of elitism, raising questions as to the task that must be carried out. Nevertheless, our job is relatively simple — as simple as that of traders who must publicise, flaunt and promote their products on the street in order to convince the buying public to prefer their products. Similarly, our job is to use appropriate tools that will make us visible, detectable and competitive within the international community.
The role of Economic Diplomacy is more complex. It involves activating all activities and operations that take place within the Greek government and concern the country's international presence and grouping them under the administrative umbrella of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aiming at the more effective performance of their duties. Two recent missions to China and Qatar are indicative of how Economic Diplomacy functions.
In the case of China, 62 entrepreneurs accompanied the Prime Minister on his visit to Shanghai to attend the China International Export Expo. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ‘Enterprise Greece’ jointly organised a business forum where 225 executives of Chinese companies attended 315 meetings with these Greek entrepreneurs. In the case of Qatar, our country's presence at the Doha Forum was more political in nature. However, following a comprehensive presentation carried out by ‘Enterprise Greece’, the Qatari Businessmen Association showed tremendous interest in the organisation of a roadshow of investment opportunities for Qatari entrepreneurs in Athens.
Dozens of deals in Shanghai that are currently underway and serious interest on the part of Qatar in opportunities for large-scale investments lead to the conclusion that “Greece is Back”, a phrase heard at all the meetings with state officials and entrepreneurs in both countries.
Our goal is for all 52 weeks in the year to serve as a continual international Roadshow of Greek Enterprises and the opportunities afforded in Greece both in terms of the single space and time provided by digital technology and through the traditional face-to-face contact required by the internationalisation of business.
December 22, 2019