Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy and Openness Kostas Fragogiannis participated in the 1st EU-Central Asia Economic Forum, held on Friday, November 5, in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, representing the Prime Minister.
In his speech at a panel in the Forum session on the creation of a sound business environment, Mr. Fragogiannis identified the conditions for the development of entrepreneurship. At the same time, he had the opportunity to outline the momentum that the country has today, which emerged from the crisis of the pandemic by implementing far-reaching reforms in the fields of innovation and digital transition in the public sector.
Political stability, social cohesion, trust in the state and institutions, optimization of human resources and rapid assimilation of innovation and technology are the secrets of success in the modern business world, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy pointedly said.
Mr. Fragogiannis chose to provide two examples of far-reaching reforms: The first concerns green energy and smart mobility and is nothing more than the project of transforming Astypalea into the first “smart and sustainable” island in the Mediterranean. In fact, he noted that the project was presented at the UN COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, just last week.
The second concerns the rapid digitization and modernization of the Greek public sector – to a large extent the result of the pandemic – so that today more than 1,200 government services are now accessible online, while 94 million digital transactions have been recorded in 2020, a record number for Greek standards.
Mr. Fragogiannis also referred to the significant investments secured by Greece in the past two years from global giants, such as Microsoft, Pfizer, Cisco and Volkswagen.
On the sidelines of the forum, Mr. Fragogiannis met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Investment of Kyrgyzstan, Ruslan Kazakbaev. At their meeting, which lasted more than an hour, the following pillars that shape the relations between the two countries were discussed: a) respect for the rules of international law, b) the investment prospects opening up in Kyrgyzstan for Renewable Energy Sources and construction, c) the opening of trade between the two countries and the creation of a market for their products, d) the policy support to the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and the EU and (e) the tourism sector between the two countries.
Mr. Fragogiannis outlined to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan the successful model that our country has applied in the last two years, which has produced tangible results in growth and investment, and accepted the proposal of Mr. Kazakbaev for the transfer of know-how from Greece, while discussing the possibility of his visit to our country. A working group of officials from the two ministries will work together on the basis of the Enterprise Greece business model for investment and exports, in order to create the appropriate conditions for the development of a corresponding body in Kyrgyzstan.
During the meeting, the exchange of information on investment prospects that may exist in the region for Greek entrepreneurs in the fields of green energy, infrastructure and construction was also discussed, with a possible visit of a business delegation to Kyrgyzstan in the future.
In the context of the climate of good cooperation initiated by this visit, Mr. Fragogiannis informed Mr. Kazakbaev about the intention of the Greek government to donate a batch of vaccines to Kyrgyzstan in the near future.
Special mention was made of the 200th anniversary of the Greek revolution of 1821 and the 30th anniversary of the independence of Kyrgyzstan, which will be celebrated in 2022.