NEWSWIRE

New Invest in Greece Website Launched
Invest in Greece has launched its new website, a comprehensive source of information about investing in Greece. The new site has been designed to facilitate the investment process—from learning about investment incentives to finding land available throughout the country. Sectoral overviews, a section on Greece’s many regions, guides to doing business in Greece, and an interactive map are just some of the features that make the new site the most important Internet resource on Greece as an investment location.
www.investingreece.gov.gr

Almunia: “Greek Economy in better condition than Eurozone average”
“The Greek economy is in better condition compared with the average condition in the Eurozone, which is currently in recession", EU Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said recently. Mr. Almunia underlined, however, the need to accelerate a restructuring programme of the Greek economy, starting this year. Presenting the European Commission’s report on Greece’s updated Stability & Growth Programme, the EU Commissioner noted that economic growth in Greece remained positive, with forecasts made by the Greek government being more optimistic compared with the European Commission and the Bank of Greece, at a time when Eurozone records negative growth rates. Greece has experienced strong economic growth at 4 percent per year over the current decade. In 2008 its GDP grew well above the euro area average and in 2009 it was still seen in positive territory in the Commission's January forecasts.

Strong Interest in Greece’s Fibre Optic Network
Foreign institutional investors have expressed a strong interest in a project to develop a fibre optic network in Greece during the annual European congress held in Copenhagen earlier this month. The congress on Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) was organised by FTTH Council Europe and brought together 2,200 executives. Greece was represented by executives from Invest in Greece Agency and officials from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Greece plans to develop a fibre optic network, budgeted at around 2 billion Euro, that will link two million households and enterprises in 50 large cities. An international tender for the project is expected to be held in the second half of 2009.

Wild Artichokes as Biomass
A pilot programme to grow wild artichokes as an inexpensive source of biomass for use in generating electricity was announced by the northern Greek prefecture of Kozani. Prefecture officials said that the perennial wild artichoke plant had minimal water requirements, needed no fertilizer and gave a high yield per hectare. The plant will start to be cultivated during the current growing season and is expected to allow local farmers to grow biomass as a cash crop in the future. The farmers will receive the value of the dry biomass from the Public Power Corporation (PPC) and subsidies from the agriculture ministry.

Greece, Brazil Sign Agreements
Greece and Brazil signed four economic and political cooperation agreements. The agreements are desiigned to serve as a springboard for greater growth of bilateral cooperation and focus on the prospects for mutual investments, expansion of cooperation in the sectors of tourism, energy, aviation engineering, shipping and trade in agricultural products.

Renewable Energy Growth
Greece’s renewable energy sources sector is steadily growing, according to a survey by Hellastat SA, revealing that power production from the industry totalled 878 MW at the end of 2006, showing an average annual growth rate of 23 percent from 1990 to 2006. Hellastat said by the end of 2007 total electricity energy power production totalled 1,039 MW (up 18% from 2006), while total power production—including large hydroelectric projects—totalled 4,060 MW. Turnover of the sample grew by 36.5 pct to 216.3 million Euro in 2007, from 158.5 million Euro in 2006, reflecting a significant increase in turnover by companies with an annual turnover of more than 10 million Euro.

Greece Joins RES Pact
Greece signed the founding treaty of the new International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), whose founding conference was held in Bonn.
This new international agency is an initiative launched by Germany, with the participation of about 80 like-minded states, that has been set up to act as a driving force behind the transition to the use renewable energy sources on a global scale, providing support and assistance to overcome obstacles that arise.

New Photovoltaic Federation
A Federation of Photovoltaic Energy Producers in Greece was recently established. Producers and representatives who are active in the photovoltaic sector and who have succeeded in linking up with the Public Power Corporation's  network have established the Federation.

Greece-India Agreement
Greece and India signed a protocol agreement regarding the agreement of scientific and technological cooperation between Greece and India. The agreement forms the basis of trade in the field of research and technology, in particular, I.T., nanotechnology, biotechnology, seismology, geodynamics, energy and environment technologies, and oceanography.

Greece-Moldova Memorandum
Greece and Moldova signed a memorandum of cooperation in the sectors of energy, particularly renewable energy sources. The memorandum provides for the implementation of a programme jointly funded by the Greek Foreign Ministry's Hellenic Aid service and USAID.

Strong Presence in Bulgaria
Greece is in third position among foreign investors in Bulgaria, after Austria and The Netherlands, with an overall invested capital of 2.148 billion Euro, according to the Bulgarian National Statistics Institute. In the first nine months of 2008, Greek direct investments rose by 13.6 percent to 316.2 million Euro, against 278.3 million Euro in the corresponding period in 2007.

Strategic Partnership with French Group
Marfin Egnatia Bank and the French group CNP Assurances have created a strategic partnership, with the French group acquiring 50.1 percent share of Marfin Insurance Holdings and taking over the management of all insurance companies of the group in Greece and Cyprus.
CNP, founded in 1850, is the largest life insurance company in France, with premium assets of more than 32 billion Euro. CNP-Marfin seeks to gain a significant share in the Greek bankassurance market over the next 3-5 years.

Russia’s Kedr Bank Expands in Greece
Russia’s Kedr Bank, currently operating one branch in Athens, announced that it wants to strengthen its presence in Greece with the opening of four new branches. Yiannis Gen, the bank’s head of operations in Greece and Europe, said an expanding operation would contribute in further enhancing trade and financial relations between Greece and Russia.
Kedr Bank opened its first branch in Athens in November 2007 and offers a wide range of banking services, including investment, joint ventures, European programmes, tourism and building activity. The bank also aims to offer services to Russian-speaking residents living in Greece, some 400,000 people.

New Business Portals
The Foreign Ministry has unveiled two internet portals for the business community and civil society. The two services are the Agora portal (http://www.agora.mfa.gr/), and the portal for international funding (http://www.aidfunding.mfa.gr/) which is aimed at helping Greek businesses and NGOs make the most of development programmes implemented by multilateral financial institutions in developing countries.
The upgraded Agora site contains information on tenders, acquisitions, business missions, sector exhibitions, more than 500 market surveys, business news, the institutional framework for investments in various countries, and Greece's bilateral relations.

Food Sector
The catering sector in Greece has an annual turnover of 392.5 million Euro. The food supply sector includes more than 3,000 major enterprises, with the vast majority offering reception catering services. Reception catering accounts for 51 percent of the market, which also includes industrial catering and airline catering services.

Foreign Language Capabilities
In Greece the learning of foreign languages is widespread. In comparison with 1990, the proportion of people speaking English well enough to take part in a conversation (36%) has increased significantly (+13%, 2^nd in EU Member States ranking).  A recent Special Eurobarometer survey indicates that 57% of Greeks claim to speak one foreign language at least to a conversational level and 19% two languages.

New Flights to, from Bucharest
The private Greek airline Sky Express recently launched a Bucharest-Alexandroupolis-Iraklion (Crete) direct flight, which will be carried out two times a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

(Source: ANA-MPA)