Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos visiting the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain (12-14 March 2018)

Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos is having a number of important meetings with key politicians and investors in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain during his three-day visit there.

The topic of his meeting in Abu Dhabi with UAE Minister of State and co-Chair of the Greece-UAE Joint Interministerial Committee Mr. Al Jaber were ιnvestment-related issues. Strong UAE interest was reaffirmed in investments in the sectors of tourism, transport – including ports and airports – energy and construction. The UAE side stressed its interest in closer cooperation in the sector of agriculture and Greek agri-food products. It was agreed to hold the next meeting of the Joint Interministerial Committee in the last quarter of 2018, in the United Arab Emirates.

With Minister of State, Mr. Al Hashimy, Mr. Katrougalos discussed issues of common interest and was briefed on the progress in the implementation of EXPO 2020, which is being held in the Emirates and is expected to attract top businesses on the global level, including a number of Greek companies.

Mr. Katrougalos and the UAE Economy Minister, Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori, signed a statement of intent on cooperation and had a one-on-one meeting in Dubai.

Addressing a Business Forum in which Greek and UAE entrepreneurs participated, Mr. Katrougalos stressed, among other things, that “We firmly believe there is great unrealised potential for cooperation in the sectors of cutting-edge technology and innovation, which are decisive to strengthening competitiveness on a global level. There is significant potential for expanding and diversifying our economic cooperation. We are determined to work systematically to achieve this goal. The signing of a statement of intent with Minister Al-Mansoori and the signing in the near future of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries, on SMEs and cooperation on innovation, will encourage our entrepreneurs to work together closely to increase the volume of bilateral transactions and become jointly more competitive in the global market.”

Top executives from 14 Greek enterprises participated in the Greek business mission, which was organized by SEV in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This afternoon, the Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs will travel on to Bahrain for meetings with government officials and representatives of the banking sector and investment funds interested in investing in Greece.