Greek PM urges investors to take advantage of improved investment climate

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has urged American investors to take advantage of Greece’s improved investment climate and positive economic sentiment.

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Mitsotakis, who took over as prime minister in early July, said that his conservative administration had managed to defeat populism and was now busy removing the obstacles that have scared away investors from the country.

Mitsotakis stressed his government’s determination to move ahead with the long-delayed tourist investment project at a disused airport south of central Athens. He said that the Elliniko project had been held ransom to the SYRIZA administration’s lack of political will.

Asked about the brain drain, which has seen thousands of highly-skilled Greeks flee the country after it plunged into a debt crisis in 2010, Mitsotakis said that reversing the trend will require new jobs, reduction in taxes and social security contributions, and a shared optimism about the country’s future.

Mitsotakis also reportedly met Thursday with Jared Kushner, advisor to US President Donald Trump.