President Hoyer at Delphi Economic Forum in Greece
“Regulators and legislators, at national and EU level, must come together to accelerate the pace of reform” said European Investment Bank (EIB) President Werner Hoyer at the opening ceremony of the 2nd Delphi Economic Forum in Delphi, Greece.
President Hoyer added in his speech: “To boost investment in particular areas, such as research and innovation, in which we continue to lag behind, I believe reforms are urgently needed. We are used to talk about a perfect and complete internal market, but in reality investors struggle every day to navigate the diversity and lack of consistency in rules across borders.”
The Delphi Economic Forum, held annually, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organisation working closely with civil society, public organisations, businesses and individuals. It connects government and business leaders from around the world with leading voices from academia, media and civil society in an effort to identify and deliberate key challenges and promote sustainable and socially responsible growth policies for Greece, Europe and the wider Eastern Mediterranean region.
This year’s conference is being held under the tile “Outlook for Greece and the Region — Vision 2020-2030”. It is under the auspices of the President of the Hellenic Republic Professor Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
Referring to Greece and the involvement of the EU Bank in the country, President Hoyer said: “Here in Greece, where certain issues may still persist, growth has returned and work is progressing, probably not as fast as many would want, but the economic situation certainly seems to be evolving.”
President Hoyer explained how the Investment Team for Greece (ITG) has delivered on its commitment to support entrepreneurship and innovation with 16 new financing operations signed and an additional 8 guarantee agreements for SMEs and microfinance signed by the European Investment Fund last year. The total investment of the EIB Group in Greece in 2016 was EUR 1.63 billion.
He said that EIB Group continues to support productive investment leading to sustainable growth. “We continue speaking to promoters around the country to identify investment opportunities. Our pipeline of new operations in Greece is growing steadily and we are confident that we will further broaden our support throughout the country.”