Ομιλία του Πρωθυπουργού κ. Αντώνη Σαμαρά στο Ελληνοκινεζικό Business Forum:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour and pleasure to welcome all of you today at the Greek-Chinese Business Forum.

Let me share with you how pleased, honestly pleased, we all feel here today, being in China, a country with such a historic culture and heritage.

And a market with such growth dynamics and potential.

Chinese and Greeks are two peoples, distinct for their great cultural tradition.

A prominent Spanish linguist, Francisco Adrados, professor at the Madrid University, wrote in one of his famous books that “from all known languages over the last three thousand years, the only ones that continue to be spoken without interruption is the Greek and the Chinese”.

Philosophy, performing arts and organized trade have been some of the greatest contributions both of our nations have given to the world.

In my capacity as the Prime Minister of Greece, I am committed to actively promote and strengthen those bilateral relations.

The presence of key institutional representatives, the presence of my friend the Minister of Trade of China, but mostly the participation of many businessmen, proves the practical interests that unite the Chinese and the Greek business communities.

In this visit, I am joined by a number of Greek businessmen who are already active in the Chinese market or ready to grasp the opportunities, in several  sectors like:

• tourism,
• shipping,
• banking,
• food and beverage,
• building materials

·         high technology and ICT (Information and Communications Technology)

Our goal is to strengthen the bilateral economic relations of the two nations by

• increasing our exports of products or services,
• encouraging the Greek-Chinese partnerships
• and attracting investments in our countries, which can serve as the access point to other markets, as well.

Already, there are concrete examples of what we can achieve together.

Exports from Greece to China increased by 41.5% between 2011 and 2012. China is now the 10th biggest importer of Greek goods. Our goal is to double our exports. As we talked about this last night with my Chinese homolog, with my friend and Chinese Prime Minister, by the year 2015 we are supposed to double this size. 

Equally important is the fact that a number of large-scale and multinational Chinese companies have established operations in our country looking for further expansion.

At the same time, the Greek shipping community evolves as the largest customer of China’s shipbuilding industry.

All this recent progress non-withstanding, we both have the potential for more!

I firmly believe that there is much room for further extending our economic relations.

This visit of ours reinforces our resolve to work together and marks the beginning of a solid partnership, by which we will bring tangible, significant results, mutually beneficial for both sides. It is really a true win-win effect.

Chinese companies can find plenty of advantages in Greece:

• our strategic location as a gateway to a wider market of three continents,
• our participation in the European Union and the Eurozone,
• our modern infrastructure and networks,
• and, our well educated, well experienced, skilled and multilingual human capital; Which is our greatest asset.

Combining Greece’s advantages and China’s penetration to global trade, as well as its competitive production cost, we can build a strong partnership in many sectors.

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear Friends,

It is true that Greece is faced with recession because of past failures, as it happens in many other European countries.

We had to overcome two major problems: the excessive debt and the relatively low competitiveness.

Yet, through a long and painful journey during the recent years, we learned a lot. And, great progress has been made recently.

We focused our efforts on fighting the root causes of our problems.

We achieved fiscal consolidation and we have moved forward with structural reforms that are changing, totally changing our economy.

Until recently, many analysts believed that Greece was a lost case.

We proved them wrong.

Most of them now witness not a "Grexit" -an exit from the Eurozone-  but a "Greekovery" –a recovery of the Greek economy.

Steadily Greece convinces more and more that it is on the course of becoming a true success story.

Let me illustrate the progress made through the last year:

First, political and social stability is secured.

Our coalition government, supported by three political parties of different ideological origin, is absolutely solid and has been proved able to deliver, to implement.

At the same time, despite the pain of austerity and the tough measures we are obliged to take in certain cases, Greeks are enduring the sacrifice in full awareness that we have almost made it to crossing the line.

Second, currency risk scenarios are now dead.

Last November we convinced the Eurogroup and the IMF that our efforts to achieve fiscal adjustment are both:  credible and effective! This agreement is a solid basis we can rely on and even this week the Eurogroup gave one more vote of confidence to our economy.

Now, five difficult months later, this credibility and effectiveness are reflected in the markets, our “spreads” – which are a measure for the country risk - have diminished by two thirds compared to their record levels exactly a year ago.

Greece is anchored in the Eurozone. This is now unquestionable. Period.

And this European decision is based on the evidence of our progress:

·         Primary deficit fell from 10.6% in 2009 down to 1% in 2012.

·         Greece achieved an annual rate of fiscal consolidation of 4.2 % of GDP on average, the highest rate of fiscal consolidation ever.

·         And a primary surplus is expected for 2013, according to European data.

Our future is linked to the future of the Eurozone and vice versa.

Third, full Re-capitalization of the Greek banking system is about to be completed.

The negative effects of the recent crisis in our banking sector are now being addressed. Our banks are fully re-capitalized according to international criteria.

Based on this development, we can create a new climate of confidence and trust in our banking system which is vital in order to provide liquidity. And this also means that every company will have easier access to finance.

These three achievements, namely political stability, Greece's anchorage to the Eurozone, and bank re-capitalization, are the foundations for our recovery and growth.

Upon these foundations we have started to build our new economic model: a business friendly Greece.

We are moving from many bureaucratic red-tape troubles to the red-carpet treatment of every potential investor.

We implement innovative structural reforms in order to turn Greek economy into a competitive, extroverted, investment-friendly economy. And thus to create new opportunities and new jobs.

We have passed and currently implement a new investment law that offers the right incentives and serves investors’ needs. For example:

• Saving time through an one-stop-shop for licensing; the Single licensing authority.
• Overcoming other unnecessary delays on behalf of the public administration, through a self-assessment system of compliance, an innovative measure showing that the government trusts the investor.
• A fully digitized system to supervise each investment procedure, and
• The right to non-EU citizens, a right for all of you, to acquire a residence permit for 5 years, that can be renewed, if you invest in real estate assets of more than 250,000€.

We introduced several reforms towards a friendlier business environment and a more open economy, based on the suggestions of the Greek business community:  

• We liberalized the energy market and the transportation sector, while the abolition of cabotage for cruises has already come into effect.
• We simplified environmental licensing, and
• Starting a business is now easier than ever, through an one-stop-shop and central company registry.

Important structural changes have taken effect in the labor market as well:

We abolished bureaucratic rigidities that hindered employment prospects.

We introduced more labor flexibility to benefit our competitiveness.

The new provisions will boost entrepreneurship, while respecting labor integrity.

We are, also, focusing on a large-scale program of privatizations in several sectors of the Greek Economy in a decisive and speedy manner .

We aim at attracting significant international capital flows that will contribute to restarting the Greek economy and fuel growth.

 There are 28 ongoing privatization projects

• on infrastructure for example ports, airports and railways.
• on real estate, including numerous assets of commercial, retail, tourist and residential interest
• and on various state-owned companies, such as those of the energy sector.

These privatizations are in process following concrete time-frames.

It’s true that we have had significant delays in the past. But we are now catching up on lost time.

Recently the first large scale privatization of the Greek National Lottery was concluded successfully, for over 700 million euros.

And the next large scale privatization, that of the Natural Gas Corporation, will be completed in the coming weeks.

Privatizations are not seen as a mere sale of assets; rather, they form a key element in re-establishing credibility, growth and setting Greece as a global investment destination providing opportunities.

I believe that all these reforms create the image of a country, determined to build a new economy, on a sound basis and with high potential for many years to come.

In this context, we strongly believe in a new era of cooperation between Greece and China.

 A cooperation which can be fruitful for both countries, especially during these crucial times.

Large-scale and multinational Chinese companies have already invested in Greece.

COSCO’s investment in Piraeus port is a “flagship”, it is already expanding, and we are actively looking forward to attract similar business deals.

Moreover, we welcome the signing of several agreements yesterday that further build on our bilateral cooperation. Such as:

The Memoranda of Cooperation signed by the China Development Bank with both the Greek privatization agency and the “Invest in Greece” Agency.

The business agreements in the field of shipping; the export of Greek marble and olive oil to China; and the Memoranda signed by Huawei and ZTE that illustrate their intent to move their logistics centers to Greece.

There are also more fields that can provide significant business opportunities for both our Greek and Chinese entrepreneur, such as:

• Shipping.
• Tourism.
• Quality agricultural products and added-value food processing.
• New technologies and ICT
• Pharmaceuticals

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Greece is determined to turn the crisis into an opportunity for a new start. And as we all know by now, in Chinese the word “crisis” is identical with the word for “opportunity”: An opportunity for investors and a new era for its people and its economy.

These opportunities are what you will examine and discuss in your business to business meetings, scheduled for today.

Therefore, I encourage you to look closely to investment opportunities in the Greek market, where you can easily find suitable local partners and thus generate profitable business partnerships.

The strengthening of the cooperation between the two countries serves a common goal:

our business relations are essential for the wider development of our bilateral relations.

Today's initiative adds to that cause.

Greece can become a real “gateway” for investment and trade flows  between China and Europe.

With these thoughts, I would like to congratulate the organizers for this excellent organization of the forum.

I wish you every success in your business contacts.

And I take this opportunity, once again, to thank the Chinese government for the fruitful discussions we had and the very warm hospitality we enjoyed during this visit.

Thank you.