Greece’s problem has always been its inability to promote the comparative advantages of its economy to foreign markets. This is despite the fact that in recent years, numerous useful reforms have been implemented to facilitate the growth of entrepreneurship—a result of the Mitsotakis government’s steadfast commitment to attracting foreign direct investment.
This policy has borne fruit, leading multinational companies to invest in Greece. Does this mean that bureaucratic bottlenecks have been eliminated and that the country has transformed into an investment paradise? Far from it. We simply promoted our comparative advantages in a modern, persistent manner, backed by a government presence on the international stage that inspired confidence. However, the core problems in attracting and supporting investments remain.
I have previously had the opportunity, through this same hospitable newspaper, to address the problems that, in practice, hindered and continue to hinder the attraction of direct productive investments to our country. Today, the following conditions apply in Greece: (a) There is no comprehensive strategic plan either for the transition to a modern production model or for outward-oriented growth and investment attraction, (b) each productive ministry (and its respective supervised organization) follows its own planning and develops its own actions for outward-oriented growth and investment attraction, resulting in an unbelievable shambles that undermines the collective effort, and (c) the responsibility for outward-oriented growth and investment attraction has been assumed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the General Secretariat for International Economic Relations & Openness, whereas this should be the responsibility of the Ministry of Development and Investments. Under these circumstances, what could the solution be?
First, the establishment by state law of a single entity and the formulation of a 10-year program aimed both at modernizing the country’s production model and at attracting foreign direct investment and outward growth. This entity should report directly to the Prime Minister and be staffed by market executives, representatives from the general secretariats of productive ministries, and senior executives from organizations with proven experience and contribution to the country’s development path, such as HRADF (TAIPED), Enterprise Greece, and diaNEOsis. This body, with the assistance of an international strategy consultant and based on the work of the Pissarides committee, will study and take into account the fruitful work of the previous government, supplementing it with proposals to complete and renew the country’s production model. It will identify and eliminate overlapping, bureaucratic jurisdictions to facilitate investments, primarily through the transfer of powers to a single entity for investment attraction and facilitation. In this way, every productive ministry, alongside its daily tasks, will have the mission of implementing the program within its sector of responsibility.
Second, organizational interventions initiated by the Prime Minister are essential for the implementation of the aforementioned program. Toward this end, I present today an updated and comprehensive roadmap featuring organizational interventions, the elimination of overlapping jurisdictions, and actions to promote the country’s major opportunities and comparative advantages abroad:
(a) It must be legislated that both the attraction and the servicing of investments will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Development and Investments, with the transfer of relevant actions to Enterprise Greece.
(b) The structure and organization of Enterprise Greece must be amended by law so that it is responsible for both promoting and attracting investments, as well as facilitating both new and existing investments. Concurrently, through the same amendment, Enterprise Greece should be staffed with specialized personnel from all productive ministries via the transfer/reassignment process. Thus, these transferred ministry officials will staff both the investment promotion and attraction sector, as well as the sector for facilitating existing and new investments.
(c) Enterprise Greece must (i) sign Memoranda of Understanding with private sector business entities to cooperate on designing and implementing joint or bilateral initiatives, such as business missions abroad, exhibitions, conferences, etc., and (ii) develop relationships with international networks of business entities, such as foreign chambers of commerce, law firms, accounting and auditing firms, business consultancy firms, stock exchanges, and others.
(d) A permanent position for a General Secretary of Outward-Oriented Growth and Investments should be established at the Ministry of Development to oversee Enterprise Greece, thereby ensuring stability in the implementation of the strategic plan.
(e) The scope of the General Secretariat for International Economic Relations & Openness of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should focus on (i) creating Intergovernmental Cooperation Dialogues and (ii) concluding Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreements. At the same time, the Economic & Commercial Affairs (ECA) offices, staffed by economic and commercial counselors both at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at Greek embassies, should aim to facilitate the work of Enterprise Greece abroad, create Intergovernmental Cooperation Dialogues, and conclude Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreements. This is, after all, the true meaning of economic diplomacy.
(f) Upon a proposal by the Ministry of Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should award the title of Honorary Ambassador of International Economic Relations to a personality of recognized prestige and experience from the business world. Their role will be to use the prestige of Greece’s diplomatic representative to primarily assist Enterprise Greece in its relations with foreign entities, as well as the General Secretariat for International Economic Relations & Openness of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the process of creating Intergovernmental Cooperation Dialogues and concluding Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreements.
I understand that the proposed measures will provoke reactions both from ministers, who will attempt to safeguard privileges and jurisdictions for their own personal reasons, and from groups of civil servants who will be affected by the proposed transfers. However, it is time to leave personal interests and “egos” behind and unfold a new policy in the field of sustainable development that will serve the broader interests of the country. This is what we expect from the government that emerged from the elections of June 25, 2023, which has already given a positive indication of its intent toward this direction.
The article was published on July 2, 2023, in the Sunday edition of RealNews.