Dear Deputy Minister of Development & Investments for Research and Technology, Mr. Christos Dimas,
Dear Professors, students, members of the USF community,
It’s been 35 years since I was a student here and today I stand before you with the honor and pride to be representing my country Greece, in the official capacity of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. It’s been a fascinating journey for me and I am grateful for the preparation by my ‘alma mater’ for the road ahead. The well-rounded education I received here, went far beyond academics and I dare say that I did acquire the authentic sense of meaning and purpose. As I said, I will always be grateful for the time I spent here.
In a timeless way, it feels as if it was only yesterday that I was here, residing on campus, running around from class to class, working hard to meet my workload, and, let me not forget, chasing my dreams.
And now I’m back, and I want to tell you a story.
It is a true story. It is the story of a country that was “down and out” just a few years ago. It is a story of optimism and hope. And, it is a verifiable one indeed. It is the story of Greece that moved “From GRexit to GRowth”.
All you have to do is go through the international press of 2015 on Greece and dare to compare to what you see today in 2022! When [pause], what was happening just a few short years ago seems like a distant nightmare.
Being at an institution where history is taught in so many ways, I should really begin my speech tonight by sharing the fact that 2021 was an extremely special year for Greece. It was IMPORTANT because it marked the bicentennial anniversary since the outbreak of the Greek Revolution against the Ottoman Empire in 1821. I had planned to be here last December to talk to you about the revolution and its international appeal, including the involvement of America and Americans.
I’ll tell you one thing though: Considering Greece’s bicentennial anniversary, our Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was invited to speak in Washington on May 17th 2022, delivering a historic address to a joint session of the US Congress, the first ever by a Greek leader.
Senators and Representatives offered 11 standing ovations and 132 rounds of applause for a speech that had it all: Russia’s aggression, the significance of ancient Greece to today’s world, the Parthenon Marbles and Giannis Antetokounmpo. [If you don’t know who that is, my dear USF students and staff, I will give you two hints: NBA and “Greek Freak”].
In any case, why did Kyriakos Mitsotakis get standing ovations? Well, one reason is because he is a very good speaker! Another reason and I think that all of the scholarly people but also the students and our guests would agree is: Because Greece inspires!
So, in the next few seconds I will give you the shortest overview of modern Greek history. It is actually quite fascinating if one considers that in this period, the small modern state of Greece was successful in almost tripling its national territory, increasing its population by almost 15 times and increasing its real GDP per capita by another 18 times. During the same period, however, Greece experienced five major bankruptcies, several wars including both World Wars, a painful civil war in the mid-forties, a military dictatorship from ΄67 to ΄74; and, of course, the very recent financial crisis that lasted a decade and started in 2009.
Let me focus on this last crisis a bit more, for it is from this crisis that Greece has exhibited a phenomenal recovery, becoming known worldwide as a current success story against all odds. [Economist Intelligence Report, Oct 27, 2022]
What happened after 2008 was that Greece faced a sovereign debt crisis that reached the people as a series of sudden painful reforms and austerity measures. The Greek economy suffered the longest recession of any advanced mixed economy to date. Greece faced a liquidity crisis, forcing the governments to seek bailout funding from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in three successive packages. The Greek crisis was often compared in severity to the US Great Depression of ΄29-΄32.
As the year of 2015 keeps popping up in my speech, one would ask: What really happened then? Well, sure enough, Greece defaulted on its debt. As one could easily predict, there were devastating consequences on society due to this crisis. A new wave of emigration was recorded comprised mainly of young, highly-educated Greeks headed primarily for other European countries seeking employment. All of this damaged Greece’s image tremendously, although one should add that for many international media, this was also opportunity for sensationalist stereotyping and exaggerations.
Fast-forward now a few years later, to 2022: the Greek economy grew by 7,7% in the first quarter of the year – a pleasant surprise even for us in the government - and is forecasted to end the year with a growth figure of at least 5%. The unemployment rate fell to 11,8% in September 2022, leaving behind sad figures such as the unemployment rate of 28% in 2013. In March of 2021, Greece sold its first 30-year bond since 2009. During the first six months of 2022, exports increased to 45 billion Euros, and Foreign Direct Investments increased by 86% in relation to 2021. Presently, Greece is borrowing money at the lowest rate ever!
As nothing like this happens by chance, the question is: what did Greece do to leave all of this behind? Obviously there was a lot of hard work. And the right choices. And painful decisions. It all started with the July 2019 elections when the incoming administration appeared far more willing to correct policies in various sectors, focusing mainly on making Greece more business-friendly, attracting foreign investment, modernizing the country’s notorious bureaucracy and cutting taxes.
As expected, it also has to do with people. The right people. For once, it was meritocracy that drove the decisions on Greece’s ministerial cabinet. Specialists, most of whom had been educated abroad, not surprisingly many in the United States, simply applied and practiced what they had learned to do from the world’s top universities. And this is what makes me particularly proud to be delivering this speech here! In many ways, I am indebted to this institution and wanted to tell all of you that basically this is where, -in our case today, here at USF, representing the educational pillar of every society, this is where it all begins, always: a solid education, hand-in-hand with the right morals and values and a commitment to excellence.
When examining the distance that was covered since 2019 in Greece, the recovery is even more miraculous; for one must not forget to proudly add the very unique circumstances under which all of these changes took place. Of course, I am referring to the crippling pandemic, which was what every country across the globe had to deal with, Greece had some additional complex issues to confront. The migration border crisis (very similar to the recent Polish-Belarus border crisis), tensions in the South-Eastern Mediterranean and the consequences of the recent explosive and inhumane Russian aggression in Ukraine.
But, despite all of this, and these adverse circumstances, we did it. We were able to increase GDP in 2022 with forecasts for a further increase in 2023. Greece is stronger, more reliable and more mature. Reforms have accelerated, industry has been proving its resilience, and the start up ecosystem, is dynamic while enjoying significant growth, not least because of our brilliant young minds and talented workforce. The foundations have been laid for improved prospects throughout various sectors of the economy, and our country is an increasingly attractive destination.
Enough of a general introduction. Let us consider some specific examples:
Think about this! There is a world-class race and you are behind. You try hard to move forward, but you are not alone. Everyone else is moving forward, too. If you persist in the same way as others do, you will still be left behind. So, what do you do? I call it “leapfrogging”! For you find a niche to thrive. This is the way you excel faster than others. So, here is my visionary political definition of Leapfrogging.
You see, for many emerging economies, the path to development is to follow in the tracks of already developed nations usually through urbanization, modernization and industrialization. We are presently living through the 4th industrial revolution.
And admittedly, Greece indeed missed many of the groundbreaking applications of the 2nd and 3rd Industrial Revolutions. Therefore it is lagging behind in the use of technology and industry, having become quite dependent on shipping and services, primarily tourism. But this fact entailed many risks: it obviously became quite apparent that the only way forward was through a great technological digital leap forward.
Not only did all of the above become a reality in record time, but the Coronavirus pandemic in Greece acted as an accelerator for the digital transformation of the country and today the government hub of digital services for citizens features over 1,300 different such services. As a result, Greece went from 8.8 million digital transactions in 2018 to 567 million in 2021 and over 665 million in the first 9 months of 2022.
These results were so impressive that they prompted Microsoft President Brad Smith to make several references in his bestseller book “Tools and Weapons – The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age”. When talking, for example, about Microsoft’s decision to build and operate large data centers in Greece, (the largest investment the company has made in its twenty-eight- year history in the country), he writes that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis [reading now from his book:] “he didn’t just offer the tax cuts sometimes provided to attract foreign investment but rather a vision of his own about moving his country and economy, including the government, to a future run on cloud computing and artificial intelligence; Brad also states that he was even more impressed by the interest of the government itself to put this technology to work” [end quote]
It’s not only Brad Smith who talks about his meeting with PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his book. Just a few months ago, Amazon Web executives also met with PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who, by the way, is another Harvard and Stanford graduate. Several executives have mentioned that this type of meeting “between their global CEOs and the Greek PM was a key turning point that convinced them of the viability of their venture, the commitment of the Greek government to deliver on its promise” and the simple fact that there is a reliable and dependable listening and acting side to move with.
You May Say Invest in Greece?
Well, I mentioned the Microsoft and Amazon investments. Let me give you a bit more information on investments in Greece. From 2019 to 2021, we have witnessed an increase of 16% in investments, whereas Foreign Direct Investments recorded a significant leap of 19,3% compared to 2019. According to Bank of Greece data, the (net) inflows of foreign direct investments exceeded 4.8 billion euros in 2021, compared to 2.8 billion in same period of 2020. The exceptional performance of our country continued during the first five months of 2022, during which foreign direct investments increased by around 80% compared to 2021.
It’s crystal clear that Greece has gone from being seen as a risk by foreign investors to being an opportunity not only for Microsoft, with a billion dollar cloud computing investment, but for many others as well, like Google with a projected investment plan of 2 billion by 2028, Digital Realty, Pfizer, Cisco, Deloitte, and many more.
And we are not talking about American companies only. Very recently, Australia’s Macquarie bought a 49% stake in our power distribution corporation for a record 2.1 billion Euro while it plans to invest a supplementary billion and a half in RES!!! And then we have the several billion investments from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. One such major investment is the joint venture (of Greece, Saudi Arabia and Cyprus) to develop an undersea data transmission cable system connecting Europe to Asia via Greece and Saudi Arabia, the so-called East to Med data Corridor (EMC project). Starting in Singapore, the EMC will pass through Saudi Arabia, Israel, Cyprus and Greece and end in Italy and France.
[Energy]
Greece has also made dramatic progress in cultivating itself as a major European energy hub including new projects like the Trans-Atlantic pipeline, TAP, (that brings Azeri gas from Azerbaijan to Türkiye, Greece, Albania, all the way to Italy), the Liquefied Natural Gas terminal near Athens, the new Floating Storage Regasification Unit in the northern part of the country that allows for new vertical connections to North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and from there, on to all of south-eastern Europe.
In a nutshell, Greece has opted NOT to put all of its eggs in one basket, but rather to diversify the energy mix with various suppliers including distant ones, some of them delivering gas in a liquefied form.
But, there is more to it: Natural Gas is the fuel that is leading the way from hydrocarbons to Renewable Energy Sources and Green Hydrogen.
As a result, soon after the 2019 elections, it was at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York that the PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged to phase out all coal-powered electricity production by 2028, making Greece a pioneer in the Balkans.
And, guess what? This bold decision has led to multibillion RES projects already being realized across the country by making use of the sun, the wind and other green resources, thus creating numerous environmentally-friendly investment opportunities, as well as attracting foreign and local investment in green energy of very significant size.
I mentioned leapfrogging. There is no better way to talk about a leapfrogging exercise than the Astypalea Project
Let me explain: the “Astypalea Smart and Sustainable Island” is a truly unique and innovative project. Astypalea is a small island in the southern Aegean Sea covering an area of some 100 square kilometers. It has a population of approximately 1,300 and is visited by some 72,000 tourists each year. Yet, this remote island is not connected to the national grid, energy demand is almost entirely met by fossil fuel sources. In reality, we are burning diesel to provide energy for the island, which is an expensive and polluting solution.
Let me tell you what this green project is all about: I should emphasize that I take great personal pride for its design and implementation as I was personally involved from the very beginning, almost two years ago.
The main idea is based on a four-pillar state-of-the-art ground-breaking plan that essentially defines what leapfrogging is all about.
The first pillar: the diesel generators are being shut down and replaced by a hybrid system that uses the sun and the wind to store energy in batteries for the needs of the entire island.
The second pillar:
the Greek state and Volkswagen [Group] are providing significant incentives so that residents will replace all combustion-engine vehicles with electric ones. All public vehicles (from the police car and scooters to the Port Authority and ambulance) are already electric. Charging stations have been installed throughout the island and a network of shared vehicles is available. This means freedom from ownership of vehicles, a glimpse, straight from the future.
Third pillar: transportation is available on demand: no more waiting for the bus; instead, you just call or click for an e-van to take you from where you are to where you want to go, 24/7.
Fourth pillar: making use of 5-G technology, in combination with road and signage excellence on the island, autonomous driving will be introduced in real time in 2026, as soon as that technology becomes available.
The bold plan is actually serving as a test bed for green transition, providing vital insight and a deeper understanding on the transition to e-mobility that will accelerate this type of switch for other regions around the world.
The Astypalea ‘smart and sustainable island’ project received global attention. All you have to do is google it and you get thousands of links: NBC, Bloomberg, ABC, Reuters and many other international media outlets covered the story of the first ‘green’ island of the Mediterranean. Greece’s country brand improved tremendously and I can’t imagine how much it would cost to launch a global advertising campaign of this magnitude.
It is also a testament of how a multinational (in our case the Volkswagen Group) and a government can act together to plan a brighter future for the benefit of the people. To make sure that we wear “objective glasses” we invited two universities to monitor the actual impact of what we do to the local residents’ lives.
[Film Industry]
Since I’m in California, let me also tell you about one more way that has proven to be very effective in promoting investments or tourism and that is no other than the film industry. For Greece, this is another newly-emerged growth sector, and the country has been turned into a hotspot for Hollywood films, attracting big productions, well-known actors and equally big budgets. This past summer alone was packed with films such as Netflix’s “Go” starring Daniel Craig and Edward Norton, the “Enforcer” with Antonio Banderas and Apple Plus TV’s spy drama “Tehran”. In addition, the “Expendables 4” starring Andy Garcia, Megan Fox and Sylvester Stallone was shot in the country’s second largest city, in early November.
Greece’s film industry is growing at a high rate and the factors favoring the country as a filming choice include a government package of a 40% cash rebate on expenses and tax relief incentives. Among Greece’s other advantages are the long hours of sunshine and a truly diverse landscape. All in all, as of November 2021, 171 film productions had joined the rebate system of which 79 were foreign, bringing in $255 million in investments.
[Elevate Greece]
On a supplementary note to all said, it is the human capital of Greece that has always, and still today, plays a truly vital role in all of this.
In that respect, another side success story is the initiative taken by the Ministry of Development and Investments which was launched a year ago and aimed to bridge the gap in Greece’s start-up scene. As it’s always better to get verified information directly from the horse’s mouth, Minister Dimas will be saying a few words about his portfolio in a few minutes.
As I am speaking to you on all of these issues, you are probably asking yourselves: is all of this actually taking place in Greece?
You might be thinking this… in fact, most people I know, all of us really, have some ideas about Greece, some preconceptions if you may, that could generally be grouped around three main themes: the first is related to our ancient history and the set of ideas that go along with it. It is, indisputably, a heritage of exceptional value, symbolism and actual significance. The second group of notions is related to Greece’s natural beauty, the famed long Greek summers, the food, the dining, the dancing and the music. A post-card image, vacation memories, positive associations…
And then, there are also some of the negative associations that may come to mind, those linked to inefficiency, bureaucracy, bickering politics and the continuous grumbling over the special circumstances we have to face, but others are always to blame.
I feel strongly that it is our responsibility to take all necessary steps to change this last type of misconception and transform it into what Greece is really like these days. What Greece actually represents today. In other words: political stability, economic growth, social cohesion, a business-friendly attitude, talented and hard-working human capital, a series of FDI incentives and reforms. Plenty of reforms and many victories, from the successful management of the Covid-19 pandemic to the restoration of our national and collective confidence, after years of economic and social turmoil.
In Dec 2020, the British magazine Monocle included Greece among the countries with the greatest soft power pointing out that “…even though the country went through a decade of austerity, and, in many ways, of survival, Greece is in a powerful position right now. Greece seems like a very attractive safe haven to base a business, especially in terms of its geographical location in the Eastern Mediterranean, its position close to North Africa and as a member of the European Union.”
So, it seems it’s all about looking at our advantages in a different way, being open to promoting Greece from a different angle.
[Defense]
Of course, some advantages have always been there. Like Greece’s place on the map.
My speech would not be complete if I didn’t share with you a bit of geopolitics, for Geography has always had plenty to do with a country’s prosperity.
Greece is strategically located in South Eastern Europe, in close vicinity to the Middle East and North Africa, a region that is of great interest to the rest of the world for many reasons. At the same time, Greece is a member of the NATO alliance since 1952 and has unfailingly stood by its allies, thus contributing to Euro-Atlantic security and actively participating in NATO operations. All of this is of utmost importance to the United States.
Greece has had a very special relationship to the US rooted in a common history and shared values going back more than two centuries. The two countries are great long-standing friends and recently the relationship reached a new exciting level. The US-Greece Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA), [initially set out in 1990], was amended and renewed for five years in October 2021, boosting defense cooperation between the two countries, including further investment in the four bases operated by the US military in Greece. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Greece “as a pillar of stability in the region” and expressed his gratitude to Greece for being a strong and reliable ally.
Apart from its priceless geo-strategic position, Greece’s human capital might also make the difference: Greece’s residents are thought of by many as the country’s greatest asset. Greeks are well-educated (4th highest tertiary enrolment rate among OECD countries), with polished language skills (more than 60% speak at least one foreign language) and a good percentage of STEM graduates.
And then there is also the Greek diaspora, some of you among the audience here tonight. Greece’s diaspora is included in the world’s historic ones, with a long and rich history. It’s like having another Greece outside of Greece, with communities scattered throughout the world, from Australia to Argentina and from Canada to the Congo. I’m sure you have all come across those resourceful hard-working Greek Americans, who do so well at integrating in America, yet also manage to preserve their culture and traditions. Something greatly facilitated by the ever-present Greek Orthodox Church.
Part of Greece’s success story in recent years is attributed to our close cooperation with that Greek diaspora and our fellow Greeks who reside and prosper in other countries: actually, I cannot imagine a single university in the US, and Canada or England for that matter, where the presence of a Greek academic has not been felt.
GRexcellence in 2022
I hope I have managed to give you some specific examples of how Greece has gone from ‘GRexit’ to GRowth. And there is so much more to be done, so much more that we can look forward to with faith and optimism.
In the last part of my speech, I would like to take all of this even further.
It is well-known, I think, that we have a long and glorious history. It is often said that Greece is the cradle of Western civilization. Let’s remind ourselves of what that really means. It means that, in a way, we are all indebted to ancient Greece for the most precious of gifts, that which places man at the center of things, allows the individual to take matters into his own hands, recognizes the capacity for citizenship and equality before the law, embraces the idea that power and the right to rule comes from the people themselves, that is the very idea of democracy.
It is because of this very central idea, the belief in this ancient version of a ‘can do’ mentality that the Ancient Greeks were able to excel in so many fields. Whether it be mathematics, biology, astrology, engineering, medicine or linguistics, much of the knowledge we take for granted today was first discovered by our ancestors.
The ancient ‘can do’ mentality then went on to influence many other civilizations and to “be Greek” came to mean more that “of shared values” than common genes.
Orator Isocrates, put it as follows, in one of his famous quotes:
“So far has Athens left the rest of mankind behind in thought and expression that her pupils have become the teachers of the world, and she has made the name of Greece distinctive no longer of race, but of intellect; and the title of a Greek? Well, let it be a badge of education rather than [one] of common descent”.
Some of these ‘teachers of the world’ later went on to contribute to the creation of the Greco-Roman civilization which, in turn, set the foundations of Renaissance Europe and the Enlightenment. Eventually, even America’s founding fathers were influenced by Ancient Greece when they set out to create the independent United States. Our ancestor’s ideas found fertile ground in America and flourished during this country’s exciting development. Democratic principles, this ‘can do’ mentality and the pursuit of excellence are what have made America the leader of the free world in our times.
If we have recently managed to go from ‘grexit’ to growth, we must now continue on the same path and pursue ‘excellence’. GRexcellence, if you may.And that means a lot more than economics. This may come to you as a surprise, since I am the Minister who leads his country’s Economic Diplomacy, but it is true. Value is greater than price. Virtues such as critical thinking, devotion to service, wisdom, democracy and justice need to be systematically cultivated and spread throughout the world. And spreading them becomes a lot easier when a country is prospering and has left its financial issues behind. This is what makes me particularly proud of Greece’s present economic situation. It serves as the necessary condition for a better future, not only for the individual, but also for the people and the rest of the world.
It is a purposeful mission for both our countries and one that I am very committed to and proud to be making such commitment in your presence at USF today.
Thank you.
November 9, 2022