With his interview on Bloomberg television and the tete-a-tete with his Moldovan counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis is completing tonight his six-day visit to the US, on the occasion of his participation in the UN General Assembly.
At the Maximos Mansion they are already making the first “takeaway” and the assessment is positive, both for the number and level of the contacts that took place, and for the fact that, according to this specific reading, the Greek message found receptive ears among investors, the international diplomatic community and the Greek diaspora.
Government officials focus on three main conclusions. First, that Greece can now speak to the investment community on different terms, highlighting its fiscal course and the stability of the economy. Second, that the country’s geopolitical position can function as a lever for economic growth, with energy, infrastructure and interconnections acquiring ever greater importance.
And third, that the government is trying to present itself as a factor of stability in a period of international turbulence, while at the same time maintaining open channels even in difficult relationships, such as Greek-Turkish relations.
According to the same sources, it is no coincidence that the trip began in San Francisco and is concluding in New York. From Silicon Valley, where technology, innovation and contacts with the heads of major companies dominated, to the UN headquarters, where the emphasis was placed on geopolitics, the economy and Greece’s role in the region.
The government attaches particular importance to the roundtable with more than 30 institutional investors, whose total assets under management exceed $4.5 trillion. There the prime minister presented the economic narrative of fiscal stability, surpluses, debt reduction and reforms.
In his speech at the UN he in fact directly linked this economic course with the strengthening of the country’s strategic position, noting that Greece is attracting significant foreign direct investment and that its borrowing cost has fallen to levels lower than those of four G7 countries.
Political credibility
Mr. Mitsotakis’ goal is to make the economy a key argument of political credibility ahead of the upcoming electoral contest and, at the same time, to show international investors that Greece now has an economy that can claim capital in a particularly competitive international environment.
The prime minister presented Greece as a hub between Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Gulf, and the reference to energy was part of this planning, with emphasis on the prospect of exploratory drilling in the spring of 2027.
On Greek-Turkish issues, Kyriakos Mitsotakis repeated from the UN podium all the longstanding Greek positions, however he avoided a head-on confrontation with Ankara. This is directly related to the statements by Tayyip Erdogan that preceded it and moved in a different tone compared with the recent past, speaking of Greece as a neighbor and ally in NATO and prioritizing the preservation of peace and calm in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean.
The line followed by the prime minister was based on the will for open channels of communication, but with full respect for International Law and the Convention on the Law of the Sea. “We cannot, after all, as I have said repeatedly, change geography; it is our destiny to live next to one another,” he noted.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, from the other side of the Atlantic, also wanted to send political messages to the domestic audience, against the backdrop of next year’s elections.
Speaking to Greeks of the diaspora, he sought to move the discussion away from the logic of a “third term” as an end in itself, linking political continuity with the completion of reforms. He clarified that he is seeking electoral victory in order to change the country and improve the lives of Greeks and to strengthen Greece’s geopolitical and economic position abroad. He also called on expatriates to take part in the process, either in person or by postal vote, which will be applied for the first time in national elections.