Mitsotakis Touts Greece as Attractive Investment Destination for India

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis highlighted the investment opportunities now offered by Greece to India during a speech in Mumbai on Thursday.

Addressing the Greek-Indian business forum held on the last of his two-day visit to India, Mitsotakis assured Indian businesspersons that “the Greece they remember, the Greece of the financial crisis, the Greece that made the headlines for all the wrong reasons, no longer exists.”

Greece was now making headlines for all the right reasons, Mitsotakis said, noting that The Economist had voted Greece the “Country of the Year” for 2023, “essentially rewarding us for the significant progress we have made in terms of putting our house in order.”

Referring to his official visit to India, the Greek PM said it was the first visit by a Greek prime minister to India in sixteen years, while the visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Athens preceding it had been the first visit by an Indian prime minister to Greece in forty years.

“We have made a lot of progress in the last six months in re-establishing what I consider to be a strategic partnership of great importance,” Mitsotakis said, referring to his cooperation and talks with his Indian counterpart.

The prime minister noted that headline indicators regarding the Greek economy were all very encouraging, with the country returning to a path of sustainable growth. He pointed out that the Greek economy has been growing at a much faster pace than that of the Eurozone, while at the same time “maintaining tight fiscal discipline.”

“Greece from a macroeconomic perspective is clearly a country which is on the right track, as reflected by business activity and the level of investment by domestic and foreign investors, which in 2023 reached record highs,” he said, adding that it was expected to overshoot this record in 2024.

Mitsotakis: Greece offers advantages for investments from India

Mitsotakis also listed the advantages that Greece has to offer for prospective investors in India.

“First of all you just look at the map and you see that Greece is, geographically, the natural entry point, the gateway, the doorstep for Indian companies into the European market. I think this becomes particularly important after Brexit, when Indian companies will be looking for a new European anchor to access the European market.

“Also, when we think in terms of the big geopolitical projects fostering connectivity between the Indo-Pacific and Europe, the IMEC project (The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor), eventually it will in one way or another lead to Greece.

“That is why Greek infrastructure, our ports, our logistics centers, strengthening our supply chains becomes so important and it is no surprise that we already have Indian companies investing in the Greek infrastructure,” the Greek Premier said, citing GMR’s involvement in the construction of the new airport in Kastelli, Crete.

Tourism can boost ties

He also particularly highlighted tourism and hospitality as a “great untapped opportunity” and an investment destination “that can go both ways,” with both Greek investment in India and Indian investment in Greece.

“When it comes to hospitality, we are only beginning to tap the full potential of what India has to offer. We still don’t have a non-stop flight to Mumbai or Delhi to Greece, for example,” he said predicting that there will be immediate demand for such flights as soon as they are introduced.

He cited the example of the United States, where the number of non-stop direct flights had increased from just one a day to more than a dozen, sharply increasing the number of Americans visiting Greece.

The same could happen with tourists from India, he added, while he also urged more Indian film productions to be shot on location in Greece “and not just Santorini.”