10th Greek Investment Forum in NY on June 8-11

The US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt was received today by the Athens Stock Exchange on the occasion of the upcoming 10th Greek Investment Forum in New York, co-organized by the Athens Stock Exchange and the Hellenic-American Chamber of Athens on June 8-11.

Mr Pyatt announced the start of the stock market session by ringing the traditional bell. The Head of the Finance Office of the Prime Minister Alexis Patelis was also present at the event.

Welcoming the US Ambassador, the CEO of the Athens Stock Exchange Group, Socrates Lazaridis, stressed the multifaceted and substantial support that Mr. Pyatt has been providing to the Greek Stock Exchange all these years, not only with his participation in this event but also with his interest and encouraging the young and innovative Greek entrepreneurship.

Special reference was made by Mr. Lazaridis to the initial support by Mr. Pyatt of the Roots program that supports such business initiatives in Greece. The Roots program is internationally recognized through the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC).

The President of the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce, Nikolaos Bakatselos, also referred to the particularly critical role that Mr. Payat has played in shaping the excellent Greek-American relations.

“This is a moment of great opportunity for the Greek-American relationship and especially for our trade and investment relations. “The Embassy and I will do what we can in cooperation with the Greek Government and the private sector in order to continue to facilitate trade and investment opportunities between the United States and Greece and to bring our relationship to a higher level,” he said.  The ambassador added: “As President Biden told Prime Minister Mitsotakis during a telephone conversation on the occasion of Greek Independence Day, the United States is committed to working with Greece to pursue a sustainable economic recovery after the pandemic. As we enter the post-pandemic period, Greece is in a relatively good position to recover from the economic shock caused by the pandemic.”

However, the main challenge for the credit profile remains the increased debt level, which amounted to 205.6% of GDP in 2020 and is the second highest among the countries rated by Moody’s.