Greek PM Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis participated as an honorary guest and keynote speaker in the world summit of international consulting company Boston Consulting Group (BCG), held via teleconference.
The invitation to the Prime Minister came in recognition of the effort made by Greece in the fight against the Coronavirus, as the results have set our country as a best practice internationally.
Addressing 500 BCG leading executives, Kyriakos Mitsotakis discussed the challenge that the Coronavirus poses for the entire world, as well as its impact on Greece, the European Union and the global economy.
At the beginning of his speech, the Prime Minister addressed the developments in recent months. “We faced a double-front crisis. Many forget that in early March we faced a difficult geopolitical challenge, when Turkey materialised its threat of pushing tens of thousands of migrants and refugees and encouraging them to cross the border to Greece,” he stressed, recalling that after two weeks of tension it became clear that “no one would be allowed to enter Greece under these conditions”.
Next, referring to Greece’s reaction to the Coronavirus pandemic, Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted that this collective effort was based on taking immediate measures on the basis of protecting public health, the citizen safety of citizens and drawing on scientific advice.
“The better you do in managing the health crisis, the faster the recovery of the economy,” he noted, tying the response to the health crisis with the potential for economic economy. A catalyst for success in this initial phase of pandemic management, as reported by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has been the new relationship of trust and honesty between the State and its citizens.
“We reached the first decisions before the first case was even recorded. We announced the cancellation of major carnival events in the city of Patras,” the Prime Minister noted, recalling that in those days the Government was heavily criticised.
“I guess we were about two weeks ahead of most European countries in making decisions that we would obviously need to make at some point. So my choice from the very early stages was that if action is necessary, it’s better to do it sooner than later. We have informed the citizens with very clear messages and we gave the stage to the experts. I do not issue the daily briefings personally, those are issued by the head of the committee of health specialists, along with the head of Civil Protection. I addressed the citizens seven times on television, explaining exactly what our Government was doing from the very first steps”, the Prime Minister remarked, stressing that the Government has used this period to strengthen the National Health System.
On the possibilities of restarting tourism activity, Kyriakos Mitsotakis mentioned, among other things: “If things go according to plan, we will be open (for tourism) from July 1, with a protocol that will make sense not only to people who want to travel, but also to our tourism industry. We want a bigger share of the market, from a much smaller pie. The European tourism pie is going to be much smaller, but this summer we want a bigger share.”
The Prime Minister also stressed the need to accelerate investment, with an emphasis on the green economy and indicated that “the privatisation programme will proceed as planned”. He also pointed out that the pandemic should not become an obstacle. Rather, it should accelerate efforts to tackle climate change.
With regard to global challenges, the Prime Minister referred to the importance of multilateral cooperation at international level and the benefits that the European Union can derive from better coordination in areas of common interest, with a view to faster decision-making.
The discussion on behalf of BCG was opened by Chairman and CEO Rich Lesser, Chairman of Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East Christoph Schweizer, and BCG Athens partners Vassilis Antoniades and Chrysos Kavounidis. The latter underlined an acceleration of reforms in the areas of extroversion and technological upgrade, and, at the same time, the optimism and confidence in institutions that may be observed in Greek society.
