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GreeceTsiprasInvestors trust the Greek economy, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says
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The government’s efforts are focused on improving labour relations, protecting labour rights and generating new jobs while creating an environment that is friendly to healthy entrepreneurship, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday, during his visit to the Papastratos CMC factory in Aspropyrgos.
Tsipras said that Papastratos’ 300 million euro investment, which will create 400 new jobs, is a vote of confidence in the Greek economy and its prospects, while expressing his conviction that Greece will be able to attract new investments, from both foreign and domestic investors.
Among others, he noted that unemployment was falling steadily and could even drop below a threshold of 20 pct in 2018.
He pointed out that sustainable and equitable growth was not possible, however, ?if we don?t support the key link in the chain of production, which is the worker.? In this context, he highlighted a draft labour ministry bill to be tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, which seeks to combat unpaid or undeclared work, allowing for new jobs offering decent conditions.
“We will succeed in increasing employment and establishing a healthy employment and business climate,” he said. The conditions for a return to positive growth rates were slowly being shaped, Tsipras noted, as well as the prospects for once again making Greece attractive to investors. More importantly, he added, Greece was finally creating the prospects for a permanent exit in August 2018 from the seven-year regime of successive memoranda.
“We are working to lay the foundations for a production model that is different from that which led us to the crisis, based on technological innovation and, above all, on the protection of workers’ rights,” he underlined.
Investments during the first half of 2017 alone have exceeded one billion euros, Tsipras said, and this rate of investment had more than doubled in the two months following the conclusion of the second programme review, in June and July.
Tsipras stressed that in order to be able to turn a page, we must believe in Greece’s ability to again stand on its feet. “Change cannot happen from one day to the next, but it is certain that the country can change. Fewer words and more work are needed,” he said.
He said that a 2 pct GDP growth forecast for 2017 is being confirmed and that the country is pushing through necessary reforms, such as simplifying procedures and combating bureaucracy, as well as reforms in public administration, education and health.
Tuesday 29 August 2017, 11:31:21 / Last Update: 15:31 / Source: ANA-MPA