The Diplomat
A Greek business mission, headed by the Deputy Minister of Economic Diplomacy and Internationalization, Konstantinos Fragkogiannis, will travel to Spain early next year “as a continuation of the equivalent Spanish business mission in Athens last May, organized under the auspices of ICEX”, as announced by the Greek Ambassador, Ilias Fotopoulos, last Wednesday during the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the constitution of the Spanish-Greek Chamber of Commerce.
The Greek companies that will be part of that mission belong to sectors “of special interest for the increase of bilateral business collaborations, such as food and beverage products, construction materials, medicines, digital technology, renewable energy sources, among others,” the ambassador informed during the reception he hosted at his official residence.
Ilias Fotopoulos stressed that “the economic and trade relations between the two countries have ever more increased to the benefit of both sides in recent years” and expressed his satisfaction that “the Greek economy is on the road to recovery after the pandemic, with a very rapid growth, despite the negative consequences and the unfavorable economic situation at the international level due to the war in Ukraine”. Last year Greece grew by 8.3%, while this year it is expected to achieve 6% growth.
“Spain is a very important economic and commercial ally for Greece and is among our best customers in the Eurozone,” the ambassador added. The volume of bilateral trade in 2021 increased by 14% to 3.26 billion euros, recording increases in both Greek exports (1.19 billion, up 4.3%) and Spanish exports (2.33 billion, up 36.6%).
In the field of investments, “Spain is one of the leaders in Greece, since it holds the 11th position, reaching an investment stock of 897 million euros in 2021,” he added. Spanish investments are concentrated in the energy, retail, construction, banking, insurance, solid waste management, IT, press and hotel management sectors.
For their part, Greek direct investments in Spain in 2021 amounted to €144 million, mainly in the food, fish farming, raw material processing, irrigation systems, jewelry, packaging, retail, shipyards, cosmetics and telecommunications sectors.
During the last few years, added Ilias Fotopoulos, there have been “important investment flows between Greece and Spain in the renewable energy, aquaculture and electronic payments sectors, as well as in the tourism/hotel sector”. He concluded by expressing his hope that “the future prospects are promising in terms of strengthening and deepening business and investment collaboration between the two countries”, which “have many points and positions in common on issues of mutual interest”.
For his part, the president of the Spanish-Greek Chamber of Commerce, Andreas Pappas, expressed his “gratitude to the Greek ambassador for the organization (of the event) and his support to the Chamber”.
