Google’s investment in cloud services in Greece could contribute over two billion euros to the Greek GDP by 2030 and create twenty thousand well-paid new jobs, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday speaking at the event for the presentation of Google’s investment plans.
Following Microsoft’s and Amazon’s investments in Greece, Google will proceed with the development of state-of-the-art infrastructure and a regional cloud service hub.
The project is set to turn Greece into one of the few countries in the world outside of North America where the three largest cloud service multinationals will have a local presence with infrastructure.
At the event held at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Mitsotakis also welcomed Google’s decision to create two centers of excellence in Thessaloniki and Patras while he said that ten thousand unemployed people upgraded their skills because of the company’s cooperation with the employment ministry.
Google part of “silent revolution” in Greece, Mitsotakis says
Mitsotakis underlined the government’s determination to invest in and promote Greece’s digital leap with the aim of improving services to citizens but also supporting and developing the economy.
He spoke of a “silent revolution” that has taken place over the last three years in Greece with the rapid use of digital technology by the state in the field of serving citizens.
Mitsotakis noted that investments in cutting-edge sectors are a constant priority of the government.
“This is a permanent reform process in the digital transformation of not only large but also medium and small businesses, such as those in tourism that use digital marketing tools to promote their product,” Mitsotakis said.
He added that more than ten billion euros from the Recovery Fund and the NSRF will be channeled in all production sectors from the primary sector to industry and services.
Google: Partnership to accelerate the digital transformation in Greece
“We are excited about expanding the partnership to drastically increase and accelerate innovation and digital transformation in Greece,” Google Cloud International President Adaire Fox-Martin said.
“Not only that, but we want to directly boost skills development in the country to ensure that companies and organizations here in Greece can make the most of this investment,” she added.
She also emphasized that “the citizens of Greece are the ones who will benefit from the value that this Cloud Region will bring.”
Greece’s state agency Enterprise Greece gave its approval in April to fast-track a one hundred million euros ($110 million) Microsoft investment project for three data centers in the country.
Amazon Web Services announced last December that it will be creating thirty new AWS Local Zones across the world, including in Greece.
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