Greece Needs 100Bln Euro In Investments Within 6 Years Deputy FM Claims

Foreign Deputy Minister Dimitris Mardas at the “Invest in Greece Forum” in New York - See more at: http://usa.greekreporter.com/2015/12/15/greece-needs-100-bln-euro-investment-within-6-years-deputy-fm-claims/#sthash.A3T7N4If.dpuf

Foreign Deputy Minister Dimitris Mardas at the ''Invest in Greece Forum'' in New York
 
Greek government is seeking a helping hand from global investors to propel the country forward.
Greek Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister
 addressed a consortium of foreign investors, bankers and business
leaders at the Metropolitan Club in New York City during the 17th Annual
 “Invest in Greece Forum,” in an effort to attract international investors to the cash strapped nation.
The deputy minister’s visit to New York comes on the same day that Greece agreed to lease 14 regional airports to Fraport and one day before the Greek government votes on a new set
of bailout prior actions, two steps that could indicate commitment to
the austerity program.

Mardas, who knows the workings of the
bailout well, having been the deputy finance minister until August, was
blunt about Greece’s investment needs.
“Greece needs, as you say, an
investment shock.
 We need 100 billion euros in the next six years.
We can have 20 billion euros through the money that comes from the EU and
the rest must come of the market. In this context we try to apply a
series of measures, a series of actions which can favor investments in
Greece in all areas,” the minister said.While energy, tourism and transport
are the dominant investment areas, Mardas claimed that interested
parties can invest in all of the country’s sectors.
He also noted the government is working on cutting down on
bureaucracy and allowing an interested firm to set up shop in Greece
within six to eight months.
 That would be the center of international conferences. The United
Nations would have their own building on the island. Investments on the
island would not draw on public funds and the cost of the project
amounts to 1.5 billion euros.
Among other intended projects, Greece could be hosting three
international symposia annually. One for Balkan Countries, one for Black
 Sea countries and one for South and East European as well as
Mediterranean countries.“In this symposia four groups of
people will participate. Politicians, academics, businessmen and high
level public servants,” Mardassaid.
The government also plansto organize
inter-governmental committees and series of business missions to
countries all over the world, particularly in African and Black Sea
countries this year.
Mardas made special reference to the Greek port of Piraeus and the
port of Thessaloniki as the main infrastructures that give the country a
 dominant position, arguing that they could be further developed into
highly competitive and even more profitable ports via investments.