Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited this morning the 88th Thessaloniki International Fair, where he had a meeting with the Board of Directors of TIF-HELEXPO and then toured pavilions, while he spoke at the opening ceremony of the German pavilion, which is the country of honour of this year’s TIF.
In his speech, the Prime Minister stated:
“Vice-Chancellor, Minister, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, let me thank Germany for accepting the invitation and the challenge to be the honoured country of the Thessaloniki International Fair 2024. I refer to the challenge because Dr. Habeck, you’re right to point out that we presented you with a very big space to fill. If it were not for the very strong business and economic ties between our two countries, I don’t think that would have been possible.
But the fact that we have 130 companies present here, open to the public to explain their own stories and the strong economic ties that we have between Greece and Germany is exactly testimony to the fact that we have built a very strong economic bilateral partnership.
You are right to point out that our historic relationships have gone through ebbs and flows. It is also true that as Greece was going through its own financial crisis, views of Germany were sometimes distorted by the pain that the Greek citizens felt.
But the truth is that we’ve left these years behind us. The Greek economy is now growing very fast, which means that it presents lots of opportunities for German companies to have a presence in Greece and to invest in Greece.
We should not forget that Germany is one of the biggest foreign investors in Greece. We should also not forget that during the years of the crisis, the German companies actually stayed in Greece. They did not leave, and they invested. They continued to invest in the country.
This Fair is an opportunity to strengthen our bilateral economic ties, to identify new opportunities, but also because this, as you pointed out, is a rare universal public fair -they don’t tend to exist these days-, for the people of Thessaloniki and for all the visitors to come, have fun, enjoy themselves, get to know what the German companies are actually doing in Greece.
I should point out that at the bilateral level, there’s an excellent cooperation between Greece and Germany. We’re faced with tremendous challenges. The Vice-Chancellor, for those of you who don’t know it, is particularly sensitive when it comes to issues of the green transition and climate change. We have been directly affected by the climate crisis, as most Mediterranean countries have.
As we move into the next European cycle, there’s going to be a lot of interesting discussions that we have in terms of how we actually make the green transition a reality without compromising on our targets, while at the same time maintaining the competitiveness and national security of our industries while supporting the people who actually suffer from the climate crisis today. Not an easy equation to solve, but we know we have good and qualified partners when we engage in this debate.
Again, dear Robert, Minister, thank you so much for being here. It means a lot to us to have Germany as a country of honour. I’m sure that for all of those, because this is actually a fair that receives lots and lots of visitors who visit the German pavilion, I’m sure they’ll also have a very good time. I’m eager to present the pavilion to the visitors of TIF. Thank you again very much for being here”.
During his tour of the TIF pavilions, the Prime Minister had the opportunity to learn about modern technological applications and innovative services, watch an army drone demonstration and talk to Greek and foreign exhibitors.
