The Indian government has set as its strategic priority the upgrading of bilateral relations with Greece - Numerous B2B meetings between Greek businesspeople and business executives with Indians - Mitsotakis arrives in New Delhi tonight.
Contacts and the official business mission program to India begin with good omens. The delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Gerapetritis, arrived yesterday shortly before midnight local after a short stop for refuelling in Dubai and today is expected to participate in the first day of the conference organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India and the Federation of Chambers of Industry and Commerce of the country. Although the conference focuses overall on Indo-European economic relations, our country has an upgraded role in it.
This is because the Indian government has set the upgrading of bilateral relations with Greece as a priority strategy. Something that is expected to be confirmed by the visit of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to India in the evening.
Already, the area around the conference centre, which is adjacent to the residences of the political and state leadership of India and the embassies of the countries, has been "dressed" in blue and white.
Land workers
Mr Gerapetritis is expected to have contact with his Indian counterpart today, where, among other things, the issue of the agreement to send Indian land workers to Greece is expected to be raised to deal with the great problem of the lack of labour force. According to information, the two sides reached an agreement on the Authority at the beginning of the month after many months of negotiations.
Agreements
From then on, the focus is mainly on the B2B contacts that the Greek business people and business executives will have with their counterparts in India searching for cooperation opportunities.
In this context, the signing of two agreements regarding Eurobank and Eurolife, in which the main shareholder is the Fairfax of the Indo-Canadian investor Prem Watsa, with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) are scheduled for tomorrow.
NPCI is essentially the retail transaction execution arm and the wider payment systems manager in the country.
L&T, again, is a diversified conglomerate with activities in, among others, construction, mining, energy, mechanical equipment and financial services (including insurance), with a turnover of almost 21 billion euros.
The conference
As part of the work of the first day of the conference, it is expected that a presentation will be made on the opportunities presented by Greece in a number of sectors.
The vice president of Foreign Affairs, Mr Kostas Fragogiannis, responsible for economic diplomacy and extroversion, and India's Minister of Shipping, TK Ramachandran, are expected to discuss the possibilities of greater cooperation in shipping and the so-called "blue economy" through the development of offshore wind farm infrastructure.
This will be followed by presentations focusing on Greece by the Secretary General of International Relations and President of Enterprise Greece, Ms Myra Myrogiannis, the CEO of Enterprise Greece, Marino Giannopoulos, as well as the head of Export Credit Greece, Mr Grigoris Stamatopoulos, about the new products he has prepared the organisation.
This will be followed by speeches from the financial director of the GEK TERNA Group, Ms Penelope Lazaridou, and the head of the Indian GMR Group in Greece, on the cooperation of the two groups in the large project in Kasteli, as well as the prospects presented by the Greek-Indian cooperation.
During the day, memorandums of cooperation are expected to be signed between Enterprise Greece and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Industry and Commerce and between Joist Innovation Park, the Innovation Park operating in Larissa, and Adani University.
On the sidelines of the conference, a series of B2B meetings between Greek and Indian companies are expected to take place, exploring the possibilities of cooperation.
The Greek delegation includes businessmen and representatives of companies from a significant range of activities, including energy, technology, shipping, aviation, clothing, industrial equipment, food and beverage, tourism, construction and real estate, and the audiovisual industry.
Among the participants in the mission are the founder and president of Dynacom Tankers Giorgos Prokopiou, the managing director of Eurobank Fokion Karavias, the managing director of Eurolife FFH Alexandros Sarrigeorgiou, the director of International Activities of the Mytileneos Group, ambassador Konstantinos Bikas, Mr Kallinikos Kallinikos of Goldair, Mr Athanasios Liagkos, Chairman, Hellenic Ports Association & Executive Chairman, ThPA S.A. (Thessaloniki Port Authority), the Hellenic Republic (Greece), Konstantinos Bitros (Streem Global – HIG), the managing director of Zeus + Dione Ms Dimitra Kolotoura et al.
Stelios Morfidis is a columnist for New Money.
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