“Creating the Greece we want, through the Greece we want to transcend”. This could be a way to describe in political terms ‘Greece 2.0’, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan the Prime Minister presented, which will serve as a roadmap for our country’s reform in the decades to come. It is a truly historic moment for our country, which has the choice of an important, structural restart, because this plan concerns every citizen, it is exceptionally wide ranging and concerns the life of society as a whole. Its implementation will require maturity and spirit of consensus that will improve the life of all Greeks, and its results will boost the efficiency of the Greek state.
In economic terms, the primary goal of the plan is to cover the big gap in investments, in national product/GNP and employment. However, its trailblazing nature will essentially shift the paradigm of the Greek economy, making it competitive and outward-looking thanks to a digital, effective state. However, I would like to focus on the triptych of competitiveness, openness and digital integration, which lies at the heart of the modern policy we are implementing in Economic Diplomacy.
For many decades, attracting major investments to Greece was, among other things, a forum for political conflict, which was usually confined to stifling any initiative and ultimately created a hostile investment climate. As a result, Greece remained a relatively closed-off economy. The government’s pro-investment strategy since it was elected in July 2019 led to a radical change in the country’s international image, despite the advent of the pandemic. The ‘Greece 2.0’ National Recovery and Resilience Plan aims at mobilizing significant forces, supporting private investments, and using private-public partnerships. The goal, once the health crisis is over, is for competitiveness to ensure that Greece remains a truly attractive investment destination. We at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in concert with the General Secretariat for International Economic Relations, have planned specific actions that will undergird the openness of the Greek economy and leverage the key principles of the plan. Focusing on the triptych of a) highlighting the country’s economic and trade position at the regional and international level; b) strengthening structures that foster openness; and c) reinforcing multilateral economic relations, we have launched a campaign to support Greek enterprises abroad. At the same time, we are implementing an extensive digital integration plan to connect all openness services through state-of-the-art e-governance tools and, following the passing of the new statute of the Ministry, we are making all the necessary reforms to strengthen our services.
The reform of Economic Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already begun. Major work is under way and new prospects are opening up. Since last year —during the hard lockdown, in fact— we concluded emblematic investment agreements for projects that will leave a footprint on the country for decades to come and will showcase Greece to the global investment community. The coming period, which will start once the lockdown is over, will be one of intensive work; The radical changes that the pandemic imposed on the global economy are here to stay, constituting both a “crisis” and an “opportunity”. And, as everyone knows, successfully handling a “crisis” makes you stronger, while decisively leveraging an “opportunity” makes you robust.
