Athens , 11 February 2010

Thank you, Mr. Aggelopoulos. I would like to welcome all of you and thank you for being here today. I would particularly like to thank and welcome the Finance Ministry’s Secretary General, Mr. Drimousis, to our panel discussion.

It is a great pleasure for me to be here with all the representatives from chambers of commerce and organisations involved in this effort to promote our exports and the Greek economy’s externalisation. Ms. Sakellaridis’ presence gives me particular pleasure, and the same goes for Mr. Lavidas with whom I have worked a lot in the past.

Let me start straight away with the subject of this presentation, this panel discussion aimed at launching a substantial dialogue on how we can plan and promote our economic diplomacy's development from the Foreign Ministry side. In this discussion, you will see that reference will be made to our cooperation with co-competent bodies and other agencies active in the same field, with which we must cooperate closely.

Today essentially gives us the opportunity to start a dialogue between us, having, for our part, described the planning in order to be able to achieve the externalisation needed, which does not, however, mark the end of this effort. We consider this a dynamic process, a process in which you have a significant say.

I’ll start by setting the framework in which this is all happening, because it is very important to take into account that our country's economy has to show increased resilience at the current juncture. But in order to do this, growth must be supported in a substantial manner through an efficient approach vis-à-vis foreign markets and also by attracting the investments our country needs.

Economic diplomacy is very topical, much more so today than at times when there is no economic crisis. Greece needs this tool now. But it is not only useful in order to address the current crisis; at the Foreign Ministry, we also see it as an important tool for the country’s foreign policy.

What I mean by that is that when Greece is able to build serious, longstanding cooperation with countries that are either already important from an economic and geopolitical point of view or their economies are now emerging, we will be forging partnerships with countries that care and communicate more easily with us in terms of political diplomacy and with regard to political matters.

In particular, Greece could claim an international role and its own position in a series of fields that are geopolitically important such as energy, new technologies – green technologies – and environmental know-how, that is, markets and sectors in which it could make the most of its comparative advantages, in terms of its geographical position, know-how and production.

Finally, at a time when the country’s production base is being tested, it is very important for us to realise that amidst the current global crisis and market downturn, a systematic and efficient approach towards new markets is very important with a view to supporting Greece’s businesses, hence development and employment.

And here, let me stress that no one should think that we are only going to support projects from large Greek enterprises that are already internationalised. A significant dimension of all this has to do with the state’s support for those small and medium-sized enterprises that can and must claim their place on world markets and on this, the Greek state’s role is even more vital.

The programme that I want to describe is a modern, targeted, multi-faceted programme which essentially sets the objectives and the guidelines for the things we want to implement within 2010, and also paves the way for what will follow in the coming years.

That is, some of the things that we have been hearing do not need to be implemented in the coming six, seven, eight or nine months. There could be a spill-over in the coming years and, in any event, following up on these actions, monitoring the course that has been paved is very important, it is the major key to economic diplomacy and economic cooperation. A political visit, for instance, is not enough. The most important thing is what happens after the visit.

The main objective is pointing out the country's comparative advantages by effectively promoting exports of goods and services, as well as investments, and here, we prioritise economic diplomacy with an emphasis on green development.

Planning targeted actions for specific sectors of products and services in specific countries and geographical areas is an important aspect of this effort, and this is why we want to achieve tangible and quantifiable results, in order to make sure that externalisation goes through efforts made towards a specific target or, to put it simply, to know what it is we are trying to sell, which sectors are of interest to us. There is no point in entering an international market or the market of a specific country – a major market, to put it that way – to sell whatever comes easiest. We need to know what our objective is in that market: is it technologies, is it tourism, or is it something else? And of course, we need to have specific targets, we need to know what it is we are trying to achieve.

I also wanted to say that vital to this programme’s implementation is the mobilisation of the network of Greek authorities in about 90 countries around the world, that is, the Foreign Ministry’s missions, Embassies, Consulates General, Consulates, liaison offices, and 61 Economic and Trade Affairs Offices.

What we are trying to achieve on this particular front goes beyond the obvious need for mobilisation: it is their better coordination. That is, the Economic and Trade Affairs Offices, as well as the Consulates and Embassies need to know and let us know too - i.e., there should be mutual exchanges between the Ministry and these offices – what it is we are pursuing in each particular country or group of countries.

Of course, we also want to make the most of the Greek diaspora’s distinguished businesspeople and scientists. Furthermore, this planning will go through cooperation and coordination with all the co-competent Ministries because, as you realize, many matters need to be clarified in cooperation with – depending on the sector – the Energy Ministry for the promotion of renewable sources of energy, the Tourism Ministry for tourism matters, the Agriculture Ministry for agricultural produce, etc.

and also with state agencies responsible for promoting Greek entrepreneurship, Greek exports of products and services, and attracting investments such as the Hellenic Foreign Trade Board, the Hellenic Center for Investment - Invest in Greece, the Greek National Tourism Organisation, and many more.

Closing the introductory part of my speech, I would like to repeat that the basic objective is for there to be a response on your side, that is, businesses, agencies, collective forums, chambers of commerce or even state authorities with which we must cooperate in order to keep this dynamic process that is still ongoing. Because if we can’t do this, we essentially lose the direct information coming from the markets and the ability to respond immediately to the opportunities that are opening up.

In order to do this, the transcript of this presentation will be uploaded on the internet, on the Foreign Ministry website, but will also be sent by e-mail to all those who are here today and have subscribed by providing us their e-mail addresses.

We will do the same with our Embassies, Consulates General and Economic and Trade Affairs Offices in order to collect this information. The text indicates where these plans should be sent and I would like us to use this as a tool for dialogue in order to be able to move forward.

And now, to move on briefly to these points, they are divided in six categories.

The first is interstate cooperation through political activity and tools at our disposal. The first category has to do with visits by the Foreign Ministry’s political leadership and officials, which have become a tool that the Foreign Ministry is in any event very interested in.

We think that it is a very useful tool to strengthen bilateral transactions with neighbouring states, particularly states with which we are interested in developing relations immediately and promoting our economic relations, that is, countries of the Black Sea, Central Asia – which are particularly important on energy issues - and the Balkans, as well as the eastern and southern Mediterranean.

Through these visits, we are trying to regain Greece’s role in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf and also deepen economic and trade relations with major partners; indicatively, I would like to mention certain countries that are included in our planning for 2010 – and perhaps even through to 2011, if we don’t have the time to implement everything – the European Union of course, the United States, Russia, but also Japan, China, India, South Korea and many other Asian countries, as well as some Latin American countries, where there is great interest in economic cooperation.

A second political cooperation tool at our disposal in order to promote economic diplomacy are Joint Interministerial Committees. Those of you who deal with this matter – that is, essentially all of you – should know that these Committees are a very important tool to improve the institutional framework governing our country’s bilateral economic and trade relations, by signing essentially new cooperation agreements or other administrative acts in order to resolve any problems as regards implementing cooperation agreements and, of course, in order to efficiently promote investments in economic and business partnerships.

Already for 2010, we have moved ahead with planning a series of Interministerial Committees in 2010 including Russia, the United States, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, Libya, Kuwait, Morocco, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan. There are indeed many JICs, but what is most important is to get as much out of them as possible.

At a discussion we had on these Joint Interministerial Committees, someone argued that we can use them either as a forum that opens up new opportunities and provides solutions or a forum where we park our problems and then discuss them again at the next JIC. Our objective here is to resolve our problems in order to move on the next ones.

Another political cooperation tool for economic diplomacy is the opportunity given to us through the Greek Chairmanship of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC). Greece takes up the BSEC Chairmanship as of 1 June and we think this is a very good opportunity for cooperation and for developing economic relations with BSEC member states. Besides, it is also a great opportunity for us to promote some of our interests particularly in the fields of energy, renewable sources of energy, and new technologies. Because they are a very important block of countries.

Another important political cooperation tool is the Hellenic Plan for the Economic Reconstruction of the Balkans (HiPERB), the implementation of which is moving forward; it is mostly the implementation of mature projects that is moving ahead in order for their funding and construction to continue.

This is particularly important on a political level as well because Greece has been spearheading the course of the Western Balkan countries towards the achievement of the 2014 target which, as stated by the Prime Minister himself, is their accession within the European Union.

Beyond the political issues, there is also the matter of support for business development and cooperation, an aspect of even greater interest to you than how the political leadership has been paving the road.

One tool that we consider particularly important, provided it is used in the right manner, are business missions. What is most important to us with regard to business missions is correct planning and preparation for these missions. We need to know what business it is we are seeking, what exactly it is we are trying to promote in each country and, of course, in very good coordination with our consulates, Embassies, and other offices in these countries and with the co-competent state agencies such as the Hellenic Foreign Trade Board, the Hellenic Center for Investment – Invest in Greece, agencies where our forces are joined and not wasted.

I am indicatively mentioning certain business missions planned for this year, that is, Russia – we are trying to organise a mission to Moscow and Sochi, which will host the winter Olympics and where Greece will claim its own role – and China, Egypt, the United States, Azerbaijan, Gulf states, Libya, and South Africa. We have a lot of work ahead of us!

Beyond the business missions, we also think it is important for some conferences to take place, because they help us – here, among ourselves – to have a good knowledge of the result and of the product that we are trying to export, that we are trying to promote through economic cooperation.

This gives essential information to the business community regarding what it is we are trying to do, and it also gives important information to the authorities themselves of the Ministry and collaborating agencies regarding what we are trying to do.

Let me just give you an idea of some conferences that are being planned. For example, a conference is being planned, relatively soon, on the potential for promoting the export of Greek products, services and renewable-energy-source know-how, where we think Greece can be a leader.

Another conference has to do with environmental technologies and new technologies concern Green Development. A conference on the legislation in force and the initiatives that have been taken for the protection of Greek products, PDO and PGI, as well as meetings of Greek businesspersons with businesspersons from Gulf countries, which we want to be a follow-up to the tours I carried out a few weeks ago.

And, of course, within the framework of the Greek-U.S. Economic and Commercial Cooperation Commission, a conference aimed at cooperation with enterprises of the specific country.

Regarding the protection of Greek PDO and PDI products, in 2010 – apart from monitoring and the instructions that have been given to Embassies competent Missions to intervene and make demarches when necessary for the protection of Greek PDO and PDI products – a more effective coordination has been planned of the Ministry’s Directorates and involved divisions and business agencies (PASEGES, SEVITEL, PEMETE, SEVGAP, etc.) so that this can be done even more effectively.

The last tool in this package of measures that has to do with the business side is cooperation with associations and sector agencies, which we think is extremely important, not just for information to be shared, but so that we, too, can know how we can use certain important tools.

For example, carrying out market research in selected countries and in relation to the goals of the corresponding Commercial Sections, the organization of conferences and business mission by sector, Internet presentation of the sector to Commercial Section personnel, etc.

Another sector is the Programme for developing relations with economic partners and Greece’s human resources abroad. Greeks abroad, the Diaspora, are a great asset to Greece; they are, as we have often said, Greece’s best ambassadors abroad, whether they are émigrés or people active in business and therefore have business and economic relations on a local level. This is a resource that I think we need to develop further. We haven’t capitalized on it as much as we need to.

A second move that is important is the events that are held in honor of economic partners. These events held by Embassies and other Missions are essential, but they, too, have to be targeted, and not be just social events, but targeted, so that we can try to achieve the promotion of specific sectors, products, etc.

I think there are two more sectors. There is business information, with the market research I referred to earlier, and sector studies. These are – as those of you who participate and get information from these will know – research that has been carried out for some time now and that is still being carried out, with all of the data available – on the agora.gr portal – to anyone interested.

For 2010, we have already issued instructions – following requests from sector agencies – for some such studies to be carried out. For example, regarding table olives and fresh vegetables. But we also have requests for some 200 such studies to be carried out. As you can understand, 200 studies is lot for just one year, so we have to prioritize. But let me just give you an indication of some of the areas we consider to be important: renewable energy sources, wind, photovoltaic, etc.,; new environmental technologies, management of water resources, waste management, improving the energy efficiency of buildings; information and communications technologies. Of course, the traditionally exportable Greek products: dairy, cheese, olive oil, wine. Construction materials, which are very important and dynamic, textiles, etc.

Regarding the agora.gr portal, we think it is a very useful tool, but one that will benefit from an upgrading that we are planning. And this upgrading will make it more user-friendly and more attractive to those who use it. We are going to install a web TV component for presenting corporate videos that can be used to promote important Greek products and enterprises, video on demand, live streaming; some modern tools for promoting the image of Greek products.

At the same time, we are planning a specialized search engine for – for example – classified ads for products, tenders, exhibitions or for business missions. We are also planning for the potential to host web conferencing via the agora.gr web portal.

That’s not all, but I don’t want to tire you with an exhaustive list of the measures we are planning, since you will be able to read about them.

Finally, for the internal organization of economic diplomacy itself, there are a number of measures that have been programmed, some of which are already being implemented. First of all, there is the organization and improvement of the effectiveness of the Commercial Sections. I referred to this earlier. I think it is very important for there to be clear instructions as well as collaboration, so that we can do targeted work in each country or in each group of countries, with the Commercial Sections analyzing what our targets should be.

And here, I think it is very important for there to be specific targets: What do we want to achieve? Not that we just want to sell in general, but in each sector. We want an assessment that we can achieve an increase of 1, 2, 3, 5%, and then measure our actual performance against that. This won’t be easy, but it is important for us to start doing this.

Second, I think the ISO 9001 quality control system is important, as it enables businesspersons to evaluate the services provided by the Commercial Sections, and this feedback is needed so that we can take this step and so that we, the administration, can have a picture of the progress being made on the annual planning, as a management system.

The third part that has to do with the internal organization of the Services is training. We think it is very important for training to be carried out – using modern tools: web seminars – on issues like the environment, renewable energy sources, green technology, investments, construction and technical projects, protection of agricultural products, which I mentioned earlier, biological products, food and wine.

Finally, I will close by referring to the Commercial Sections. Beyond what I have already said, they support and collaborate on the implementation of actions carried out with collaborating agencies. That is, with other Ministries, on exhibitions, promotional and informational events, etc., and in cooperation with Invest in Greece, with chambers of commerce and industry, etc.

What we want to do for 2010 is to evaluate to a great extent the proposals that have gone to the Commercial Sections. I don’t have the numbers with me, but, once again, to the extent we can with the human resources at our disposal and the financial resources we have. We have to be selective and look at cost/benefit considerations when deciding where to focus.

I will close by saying that the major shift we are trying to make is not that we consider ourselves to be starting from zero, because real efforts have been made by the Ministry’s departments and by businesspersons themselves and by the Chambers and collaborating agencies. What we are trying to do is increase the value added by this effort and to increase the efficiency of the Services and cooperation.

And I think I will close by insisting that I want this text – which says a lot more than was able to tell in this time we had – to be a foundation for cooperation, so that with the knowledge you have from your experience in the marketplace, you can give us the feedback we need to make these services better, so that we can support – whether through business missions or political missions to and political presence in these countries – Greek business activities abroad.

It is very important – and I think that you, as entrepreneurs, understand this more than others – that in such a time of crisis, a major parameter in Greece’s emerging from the crisis is the extent to which we achieve our goals beyond our borders.

And this means that first of all we have to set goals, and set them together. And second, we have to work together as closely as we can, as well as intra-governmentally amongst ourselves, and amongst intermediate tools, institutional agencies and the government, in order to achieve these goals.

I am optimistic, but it will take a lot of work.

Thank you very much.