The third meeting of the Council on Extroversion was successfully held today at the "Konstantinos Michalos Entrepreneurship Center," at the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at the invitation of the Secretary General for International Economic Relations and Extroversion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Enterprise Greece, Maira Myrogiannis, and in the presence of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs responsible for Economic Diplomacy and Extroversion, Kostas Fragkogiannis.
In his address, Mr. Fragkogiannis emphasized the important role of the Council on Extroversion in promoting the objectives of economic diplomacy. He highlighted the importance of cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its oversight agencies, Enterprise Greece and the Hellenic Export Credit Company, as well as the institutional bodies representing the business community. He also thanked the institutions for their contribution to the preparation of the National Strategic Plan for Extroversion (NSPE) and their support for the internationalization of Greek entrepreneurship. He particularly stressed the need to educate and train young entrepreneurs. He also pointed out that the next challenge for the government is strengthening the national industry and modernizing industrial zones (IZs). Finally, he mentioned the government's intention to organize business missions with strategic targeting in emerging sectors such as innovation, technology, agri-food, in India and Indonesia by 2024.
In her speech, Ms. Myrogiannis underlined the importance of close cooperation between the state and production agencies to promote the extroversion of the Greek economy, taking into account emerging conditions and planning joint actions. "There is no doubt that Greece's international position has strengthened in recent years, but multiple global challenges oblige us to make every possible effort to protect extroverted entrepreneurship," she stated.
She also mentioned the excellent performance of the Greek economy, the restoration of investment-grade ratings by international rating agencies, and the historically high levels achieved in 2022 for both foreign direct investments and Greek exports. In 2023, despite difficult economic conditions and global challenges, the resilience of Greek exports was confirmed, noted the Secretary General. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to implement reforms such as strengthening extroversion structures and the project to digitize the economic diplomacy network with resources from the Recovery Fund, she noted.
The CEO of Enterprise Greece, Marinos Giannopoulos, confirmed the need for specialized promotion of the productive base, export potential, and the tourism product of the regions, as well as the training of local export potential companies. He also presented the actions for the first quarter of 2024, including participation in the most important international trade fairs and the organization of business missions to target markets.
Representatives of production agencies and professional organizations, members of the Council on Extroversion, attended the meeting. Among them were the Union of Greek Regions (ENPE), the Central Union of Greek Chambers (KEE), the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EVEA), the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), the Association of Industries of Greece (SVE), the Greek Exporters Association (SEVE), the Panhellenic Exporters Association (PAE), the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), and the Hellenic Export Credit Company (EEEP). December 18, 2023