tainability depend on our enterprises’ becoming
active abroad; on Greek business being synony-
mous with international business. And in the short
term, a policy that supports the pursuit of more
economic activities abroad will help us limit, and
deal with, the impact of the domestic recession. If
we can dovetail the Greek economy with the inter-
national economy, then we will have taken a major
step toward emerging from this crisis sooner.
At the Foreign Ministry, we are reassessing the
role of the state in strengthening Greek economic
activity abroad. And this also means reassessing
what we need to have in our toolbox if we’re going
to achieve this goal. We are looking at what we can
do ―together with all the other Ministries and state
agencies that are involved― to facilitate the activi-
ties of Greek enterprises beyond our borders, and
encourage these enterprises to become more
competitive, capitalize on the comparative advan-
tages of the Greek economy, increase Greek
exports, attract foreign investment.
We are focusing our attention on the most
dynamic sectors ―sectors in which Greece is
already active abroad, and the Greek export
trade― as well as on new businesses that offer
high-quality products and services, and increased
added value. We are also emphasising on the
importance of our Ministry’s accessibility through-
out the country, because our policies for taking
the Greek economy beyond our borders must
have the greatest possible geographical scope if
we are to cover every sector and every type of
enterprise.
On the bilateral level, in addition to continuing to
cooperate with our traditional commercial and
trading partners, we need to expand as much as
possible into new markets like India, Latin
America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Closer to
home, but no less significantly, we have spent the
last one and a half year bolstering our economic
relations with the Arab countries and laying the
groundwork for increased economic cooperation
with our neighbours, including Turkey and Israel.
Finally, the Foreign Ministry can function as a
basic support mechanism for enterprises in their
efforts to expand their operations worldwide. We
have an extensive network of diplomatic and con-
sular missions around the world, and some of
these have specially staffed Commercial Affairs
Bureaux. In fact, this is the most valuable and
most powerful tool the Ministry has to offer: its
human resources; highly skilled and experienced
personnel with an in-depth knowledge of condi-
tions in local markets around the world.
Trade with Greece
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photo: Costas Lakafossis
