Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy and Openness Kostas Fragogiannis visited the United Arab Emirates on November 21, 2022, to attend the 3rd meeting of the Steering Committee of the Strategic Investment Cooperation Agreement between the Hellenic Development Bank, the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ.
The above agreement was signed in May 2022, during Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ official visit to the UAE, with the aim to facilitate Emirati investments in Greece of a total value of 4 billion euros, in a wide range of sectors such as energy and RES, high technology, the agri-food sector.
The 3rd Steering Committee, which convened at the ADQ headquarters in Abu Dhabi, discussed the progress of the exploratory contacts and talks between of the Emirati fund’s officials and the representatives of Greek companies that have attracted their interest. Both sides expressed their will to accelerate proceedings in their cooperation, with ADQ informing its interlocutors that it will very soon formally announce its first investment in Greece.
Apart from Mr. Fragogiannis, the Committee was attended by the Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, Yannis Tsakiris and the President of the Hellenic Development Investment Bank, Dr. Haris Lambropoulos.
During his visit to the UAE, the Deputy Minister also had a bilateral meeting with the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, with whom he discussed mainly the prospects of enhancing trade between the two countries.
To this end, Mr. Fragogiannis and the Emirati Minister agreed to a targeted UAE trade mission to Athens in the first quarter of 2023, focusing on agri-food products and new agricultural technologies.