Good morning, everyone. It is with great pleasure that I meet you once again. It’s a real privilege to be able to attend this gathering one more time. It seems to have become a tradition. Congratulations to all of those who put this together. “Oloi mazi”, altogether, should really be a rallying cry for what the country can do and for the relationships between the homeland and this amazing Greek-American community. As I was listening to John telling the Frank Sinatra story, I was wondering, can you help me bring Bruce Springsteen to Greece? We’re trying to convince him to come and give a big concert.
As Athens is now booming, it’s an indication of the progress that the country has made over the past years. As I was attending a Wall Street Journal event this morning, I was discussing with the lead editor about the progress that we have made. I noticed that the title of the event, the invitation, actually said, “Is Greece Back?” There was a question mark after those three words. I asked her, maybe we should ask the people attending to vote as to whether this question mark should be removed because Greece is back for good.
This makes us all feel very proud. It also makes my job much easier as we plan the next steps in this fascinating journey that has taken us from a country that was on the verge of bankruptcy to one of the best performing economies in Europe. Ten years ago, France was borrowing at 1%, Greece was borrowing at 10%, and now the borrowing cost of Greece is under the borrowing cost of France. I don’t think many would have placed a bet that this could actually happen.
But I think it is testimony to the resilience of the Greek people and the impact that sound economic policies can have on our economy. Our fundamentals continue to be incredibly strong. This economy is growing at more than twice the average of the Eurozone. We continue to attract significant foreign direct investment in the country. I was looking at the numbers, we’ve attracted more than €30 billion of foreign direct investment over the past five years. Our tourism sector is booming. We will welcome around 36 million people. This year is going to be another record-breaking year. We’ve opened up the American market. We have more than 100 weekly nonstop flights into the Athens airport.
But of course, this success story is not just about tourism. It’s about so much more. It’s about renewable energy. It’s about logistics, infrastructure services, Greece becoming a hub for healthcare for the region, Greece becoming an educational hub for the region.
I’m very proud that we have finally managed to implement a reform, Ι passionately cared about. For the first time, we will have nonprofit private universities operating in Greece as of this October, attracting students from abroad. At the same time when our public universities are opening up to the outside world, and in particular to the United States through incredible partnerships and thus offering better opportunities to our young generation.
And of course, at the same time, what many of you might not have expected, we are beginning to see the emergence of a booming technology sector in Greece, with hundreds of startup companies that are investing in cutting-edge AI technologies, bringing Greeks back from abroad, bringing Greeks from the United States back to Greece.
For the first time in the past years, we have seen a reversal in what we used to call the “brain drain problem”. We had more Greeks returning to Greece than Greeks leaving the country. This is something that makes us incredibly proud because I know that for every single Greek or Greek-American living in the United States, taking the decision to actually come to Greece or return to Greece is not an easy decision. It’s not just about a good job or family support. It’s about whether one fundamentally believes in the long-term potential of the country. It seems that the people who do return actually believe in this potential.
I want to make you aware of an important event which is going to take place here in New York the first weekend of December. Please pencil it in. I think it’s December 7th, when the Ministry of Labour is going to come to New York with 50 of our top employers to do an open event and to actively recruit talent here in the United States. We’ve done it in many other European cities. It has been an incredible success. It’s a great way through these job fairs to put employers in touch with people who are interested in returning to Greece. For those of you who are interested, please make sure that you join us on December 7th.
But of course, this success story is not just about the economy. It’s also about Greece’s regional position as a pillar of stability in the rather turbulent region of the Eastern Mediterranean. I remember last year I said that US relations had reached an all-time high. Today, I’m happy to say that this momentum continues. In the past year alone, we’ve seen a significant deepening of cooperation across many sectors: defence, new technologies, education, energy.
Let me speak a little bit about energy. We had the pleasure of welcoming the Secretary of the Interior, who is also overseeing the overall energy portfolio, to Greece. He came a couple of weeks ago. He was very impressed with the degree of cooperation we have established when it comes to energy. He was very happy that a few days ago, Chevron, after Exxon Mobil, submitted an official formal bid to explore offshore reserves south of Crete. And it’s a move that both affirms our sovereign rights, but also reaffirms the confidence that global investors have in our country’s potential.
When you look at the United States, it is very interested in exporting liquefied natural gas. You look at Greece being an entry point, not just for the Greek market, but for the entire region. Of course, you factor, you put into the equation the fact that Greek ship owners control a little bit more than a quarter of the global LNG fleet. You understand the profound synergies that our two countries have when it comes to energy cooperation.
Six years ago, when we first came into power, Greece was a little pale dot on the energy market of Europe. We imported enough natural gas to cover our own needs. This was around 6 billion cubic metres. Now, 17 billion cubic metres of liquefied natural gas and pipe gas, from Azerbaijan primarily, pass through Greece because we are a provider of energy security for the Balkans. And the gas that enters our system through Alexandroupolis is moving up to Ukraine. You also understand the tremendous potential that Greece has to play a role that expands way beyond our borders.
And of course, I listened to John passionately making the case for Greece’s safety in this very problematic and turbulent region. And I want all of you to rest assured that my number one priority as an elected leader of this great country is to ensure that the country and our citizens are safe, and we are delivering on this front.
When President Trump first spoke about this, back in 2017, he first spoke about the need for Europeans to take more ownership regarding our own security. We have always taken this priority very seriously. We are already spending more than 3% of our GDP on defence. We realise that this is a necessary price to ensure that we will always defend our sovereignty and our sovereign rights.
When you look at the economic performance of Greece, a country that is producing primary surpluses, as we speak, a factor that is included in our spending, is also significantly higher spending on defence. When you look at where Greece was six years ago and where we are now, we have significantly upgraded our defence capabilities. We are going to be purchasing F-35 jets from the United States that should arrive before the end of this decade. The next year is going to be enormously important for our Navy. We have procured four now ultra-modern French frigates. The first of them, “Kimon”, is going to arrive in Greece before the end of the year. We are upgrading our F-16 planes. We will be spending more than €28 billion on defence over the next decade.
Again, as I said, a significant investment, but a necessary investment. An investment which I hope is also going to create more momentum in the Greek defence industry. There’s significant potential for partnerships between Greek companies and American companies when it comes to defence. As the landscape of war is changing and as we absorb the lessons of the Ukrainian conflict, we understand that we also need to be more nimble and focus as much on software as we do on hardware. But thank God, we have both the partners and the local talent to ensure that this is actually going to happen.
So let me just conclude by saying that all this, everything we’ve achieved, would not have been possible without the political stability that we currently have in Greece. If you look at what’s happening in many other European countries, you will see weak governments that are involved in constant coalition negotiations, unable to take decisions. The Greek people placed their trust in us in 2023, and they elected us with an absolute majority. It is my obligation, your Eminence, to honour this trust and to materialise what we told people we would do. This is giving us a significant comparative advantage compared to other countries.
Greece now is a country that punches above its weight. We have an active role in Europe. We are looking at Europe as our family, but also as a supranational institution in need of significant change and modernization. We are actually driving that change to the best of our ability. But in everything we do, we’re always very much aware of the fact that there is another Greece that exists outside the borders of our country.
I think for the first time, I do sense that these ties between the Greek diaspora, not just the Greek-American community, but Greeks everywhere in the world, are slowly but steadily becoming stronger as we invest in our diplomatic services. Let me again highlight the tremendous job that our diplomats are doing here in the United States.
Opening a parenthesis: we’re increasing the budget for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by 25 million. It’s going to be the first significant increase that our diplomats will see next year, because it’s not easy sending someone to expensive cities and asking them to do a difficult job. We need to ensure that these people are well paid and that the job continues to be attractive in order to be able to attract, as a country, the best and the brightest.
But again, this gathering is an opportunity to take stock of the progress we have made to reaffirm the bonds and the commitments between ‘mitera patrida’, between Greece and this amazing Greek-American diaspora. But it’s also an opportunity, and let me conclude by this before passing the floor back to Mike for the coordination of the ceremony, to honour distinguished Greeks and Greek-Americans who have, in their own personal journey, always kept Greece to their heart.
One of them, unfortunately, is not with us here today, but his family is going to posthumously receive this honour. They’re being bestowed by me on behalf of the President of the Republic. But I feel it’s an obligation to always take the time and salute and honour those who have contributed towards not just strengthening our ties, but who have always kept Greece close to their heart and have always stood by us during difficult times.
Again, thank you so much for being here. Looking forward to repeating this event next year. Thank you so much.
