Greece and Japan Strengthen Ties, Enter New Agreements

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Photo source: Prime Minister’s Press Office

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis invited Japanese investors to discover the wide range of opportunities on offer in Greece during his visit this week to Tokyo.

“Our goal is to create the suitable conditions for Japanese companies to invest in Greece and for Greek companies to increase their imprint on the Japanese market,” said Mitsotakis addressing the Greek-Japanese Business Forum in Tokyo.

Among others, the Greek PM said Greece offered investment opportunities in tourism, infrastructure, renewable energy, services and technology.

“If you look at where Greece was five or 10 years ago, it would be difficult to envision that today Greece would be one of the leaders in growth rates in Europe, one of the countries that is at the forefront of both the ‘green’ and the digital transition. Yet this has happened. And it has happened because it is our firm commitment to change the underlying fabric of the Greek economy, to make it more extrovert, to open it to the world, to increase our percentage of exports as a percentage of GDP, but also to make the country an attractive destination for foreign direct investment into Greece,” he said.

Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis addressing the Greek-Japanese Business Forum. Photo source: Prime Minister’s Press Office

Besides meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and signing a joint Declaration on Strategic Cooperation between Greece and Japan, Mitsotakis and his delegation also signed several other agreements including a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in tourism.

Additional deals signed include an agreement between Greece’s defense ministry and ATLA Japan; an MoU between the Hellenic Export Credit Company and NEXI Nippon Export and Investment Insurance; an MoU between Enterprise Greece and Japan’s External Trade Organization (JETRO); and an agreement on double taxation.

“We are upgrading the strategic relations of our countries and inaugurating a field of close cooperation in areas of mutual interest,” Mitsotakis said.

The Greek delegation in Japan, headed by Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, discussing with executives of Japanese business groups of the Keidanren federation. Photo source: Prime Minister’s Press Office

The Greek prime minister went on to add that “today there are many compelling reasons why a Japanese company would consider to invest in Greece” referring to the country’s geographical location which offers “access to the largest single market in the world”.

Lastly, he underlined government efforts to make “the life and operations of every single foreign investor in Greece as easy and as seamlessly as possible”.