World Media on Greece: Politics, Business and Current Affairs - 2007 Archive
Greek banks: A less crunched corner of Europe (The Economist, 6.12.2007)
Greek banks have not only built up sizeable retail operations in nearby Balkan markets, but are also busily planting flags in further-flung bigger markets such as Turkey and Ukraine. Read more... |
Greece and Turkey strengthen ties
A series of articles outline the positive boost of Greek-Turkish relations, which is due to the economic and diplomatic cooperation between the to countries:
Andrew Borowiec from The Washington Times
(7.12.2007) reports "Greece has opened a multifaceted diplomatic offensive that calls for closer
military and economic cooperation with Turkey. The two coutnries, which nearly went to war 11 years
ago over Aegean Sea territorial claims, have announced plans to set up joint military units within NATO
and increase high-level meetings. Read more...
Kerin Hope from the Financial Times
(5.12.2007) writes that Greece has made its strongest call to date for Turkey to become a full member
of the European Union, as the former Aegean rivals launch a joint effort to promote cross-border trade
and investment.The two foreign ministers announced a fresh set of confidence-building measures, including
regular contacts between Greek and Turkish military leaders and the establishment of a joint unit under
a Nato umbrella to take part in international peace-keeping missions.
In his article "From
pipedream to pipeline" Mythili Bhusnurmath from India Times, reports: "A little over
a fortnight ago Greece and Turkey inaugurated a natural gas pipeline connecting the two countries. With
more and more gas pipelines criss-crossing the world, the Greco-Turk pipeline should ordinarily be just
another statistic — one more pipeline. In truth it is much more. It is an outstanding example of what
pragmatic economic considerations, combined with a willingness to set aside centuries of distrust and
bellicosity, can achieve". Read more....
Greece calls for more Saudi investment as ties firm up (MENAFN/Arab News, 2.12.2007)
Greece holds major opportunities for Saudi business, Ioannis Economou, Greek ambassador in Riyadh, said last night. Speaking at a dinner in Jeddah to celebrate Greek-Saudi commercial ties the ambassador urged Saudis to invest in Greece, saying that the country was the ideal gateway for business in southeast Europe.
Saudi investment in the Balkans and southeast Europe is expected to grow in the next five years, but Greece has the best infrastructure and communications in the region. Its value as a business gateway has already convinced Saudi Basic Industries Corp.
Greece has the fifth largest commercial fleet in the world and it is expected to be increasingly involved in transporting Saudi oil, gas and particularly petrochemicals in future. Read more...
Greece urges Turkey to help revive stalled Cyprus peace talks (International Herald Tribune/AP, 27.11.2007)
Prime
Minister Costas Karamanlis on Tuesday said Turkey must demonstrate a willingness to cooperate if the
stalled peace process on Cyprus is to be revived.
Karamanlis said the island's divided
Greek and Turkish Cypriots should implement a 2006 deal to talk -through committees- as a first
step toward comprehensive negotiations on the island's reunification. Read more...
Greece and China to launch direct commercial air services (International Herald Tribune/AP, 21.11.2007)
China's state-run carrier will begin operating twice-weekly services between Athens and Beijing on Nov. 28 with a flight out of the Chinese capital. It marks the first direct air service between the Olympic Games host cities for 2004 and 2008 respectively. The flights are expected to boost tourism as well as business travel between the two countries, both considered growth markets for the other. The two countries are also promoting cooperation between travel agencies, along with joint cultural exchanges and Olympic promotion. Read more... |
The flights will be departing from
Erdogan and Karamanlis inaugurate Turkish - Greek pipeline (The New Anatolian, 11.11.2007)
Analysts consider that the new natural gas pipeline and the interconnection of the electricity systems of Greece and Turkey are the two most important interstate projects between the two neighboring countries. Read more... More articles on the subject:
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Papandreou trounces leadership challengers in socialist party election (AP/Intenational Herald Tribune, 11.11.2007)
Greek Socialist leader George Papandreou has convincingly beaten off the most serious challenge to his position, nearly four years and two general election defeats after taking over the party.Papandreou, 55, the son of flamboyant Socialist PASOK founder Andreas Papandreou, won a special party ballot with 60 percent of votes cast, easily defeating the main challenger Evangelos Venizelos. Read more...
Greece's MIG agrees to acquire 66.6 pct of Serbian mall chain RKB (Yahoo News/Thomson Financial, 29.10.2007)
Greek
investment holding company Marfin Investment group (MIG) said that it has come to an agreement to acquire
66.6 pct of Serbian shopping mall chain Rohne Kuce Beograd (RKB) from Verano Motors DOO.
The
vice chairman of MIG, Andreas Vgenopoulos said that our investment in RKB through our partnership with
Verano under such advantageous terms is the result of our strong positioning in the south eastern European
region, as well as our competitive advantage'. Read more...
Singed Olympia to be ready for Beijing torch ceremony (Reuters, 25.10.2007)
The countryside around Ancient Olympia that was extensively damaged by forest fires will be restored in time for next year's Beijing Games torch-lighting ceremony, Greece's culture minister said on Thursday. "In a short time we will hand back a fully restored ancient Olympia to the international community," Culture Minister Michalis Liapis said after inspecting restoration works. Read more...
Alpha Bank's 9-month profit beats forecasts (Reuters, 31.10.2007)
George Georgiopoulos reports that Greece's third-largest lender, Alpha Bank, reported a better-than-expected 41.5 percent rise in net profits for the first nine months of the year, on strong lending at home and in southeast Europe. In southeast Europe the group expanded it network with the rollout of new branches to total 338 in September. Lending grew 115 percent in the Balkans in the nine-month period. The network is expected to double by 2010. Read more...
Greece announces tougher measures to combat illegal migration (International Herald Tribune/AP, 17.10.2007)
Greece on Wednesday announced a tough new approach to combating illegal migration, including increased sea patrols, amid a rising tide of undocumented migrants reaching the country's shores. Read more...
Go Greek for access to Europe’s emerging markets (What Investment, 11.10.2007)
Greece could provide investors with access to the growing Balkan and South Eastern European markets, with several Greek companies already well positioned to benefit, according to Stephen Maxwell, head of European equities at SWIP. Examples include Greek toy retailer Jumbo and Fourlis, which holds the IKEA franchise in Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria and is the only listed means of investing in the IKEA brand. Read more...
The Greeks and the Chinese want to sail together (La Tibune, 12.10.2007)
 With their 4.000 ships of more than 500 tons, the Greek ship-owners dominate the seas. To consolidate this major economic asset, Athens decided to tie an alliance with Beijing, one of the primary users of maritime freight. Read more... (in French, equires registration).
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Greek care (That's Shanghai - 12.10.2007)
The land of Greece is so steeped in legend that even the plants and herbs have magical properties. Just ask George Korres, a pharmaceutical graduate from the University of Athens. Korres has created a line of personal care products that are made of ingredients that include native Greek flowers and herbs such as thyme, basil and crocus, as well as yogurt and honey". Read more...
What's in a name? (National Interest, 27.09.2007)
In a commentary published in the "The National Interest" magazine ("What’s in a Name?," September 27), Ambassador of Greece to the US Alexandros Mallias lucubrates the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) name issue, pointing out that the recent stance of President of the UN 62nd General Assembly, FYROM native Srgjan Kerim, has both put his national interest over that of the United Nations and incorrigibly damaged his UN President capacity. Read the entire article here.
Greece faces tough reform choices (BBC News, 24.09.2007)
Helena Smith’s article for the BBC News claims that “Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis has injected a new sense of urgency into his country's politics after his re-election, "We cannot lose one day, one minute," the 51-year-old told his new - and unusually youthful - cabinet last week, Smith reports.
As Smith points out quoting political scientist Dimitris Keridis, "Karamanlis wants to leave a legacy. As the nephew of Greece's great statesman, Konstantinos Karamanlis, he has a very keen sense of history and historical destiny and I think that will make him much bolder in grasping the nettle of reform
The Exchange That Launched 1,000 Ships (Forbes Magazine, 23.07.2007)
According to Forbes, over the past four years Greek shipping companies have benefited from increased trade with China and India, and freight rates have more than doubled. Today the shipping industry leads tourism in fund inflows from abroad. Greece has 3,800-plus ships of 1,000 tons or more, the largest fleet in Europe and the fifth largest in the world. Helped by cheap bank financing, shippers have at least 260 new vessels on order. Read the entire article here. |
”With little fanfare, Greece has become one of Europe's best-performing economies and stock markets” Tatiana Serafin reports in her article “
