Development Minister Takis Theodorikakos highlighted the productive transformation of the Greek economy as a fundamental prerequisite for the security of our homeland and for meeting the major challenges of our time, at a meeting organised by the Hellenic American Union, which focused on international developments and the growth trajectory of the Greek economy.
Mr Theodorikakos spoke about the historical depth and strategic importance of Greek-American relations, stressing that “they are stronger today than ever”.
He underlined that Greece is a pillar of security and stability in the eastern Mediterranean and stressed the need to deepen further the two countries’ strategic cooperation in defence, energy, investment, industry and innovation.
The focus of his speech was on boosting productivity and the competitiveness of the Greek economy.
“We need a more competitive economy, with higher productivity. This is precisely the national imperative behind the productive transformation of the Greek economy, which we have made a central focus of our policy, prioritising industry and manufacturing, innovation, the revitalisation of the primary sector and links between production and new technologies,” he said.
He also stressed the need to address social and regional inequalities, underlining that there can be no truly strong and productive Greece without strong regional development.
The full text of the Development Minister’s speech follows:
“Mr President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you warmly for the invitation and the opportunity to discuss today the growth trajectory of the Greek economy and the major challenges facing our homeland.
The Hellenic American Union has a distinctive and enduring presence in Greek society. Since 1957, through its important educational and cultural work, it has actively helped strengthen the historic bonds of friendship and cooperation between Greece and the United States — bonds grounded in shared values and mutual trust.
Greek-American relations are stronger today than ever. The United States is our most important strategic ally. And Greece is a strong and reliable pillar of security and stability in the eastern Mediterranean.
We want to strengthen this strategic relationship continually, through meaningful cooperation in every field: defence and energy, productive investment, industry and shipbuilding, research and innovation, as well as education and culture.
That matters even more in today’s climate of intense international uncertainty. Ladies and gentlemen, we are going through a period of major geopolitical shifts, and changes in the terms of global economic competition.
There are armed conflicts in our wider region, in the Middle East and Ukraine. Energy costs are placing a heavy burden on economies. Technological change is accelerating, with the advance of artificial intelligence and the battle for global dominance in AI.
At the same time, access to critical raw materials, which are essential to developing new technologies, has become a key factor in economic competitiveness and strategic security.
In this rapidly changing global environment, every country must develop a strategy to ensure the sustainability and prospects of its economy — one that will strengthen its competitiveness and safeguard its economic and national security.
This is a huge challenge not only for our homeland but for Europe as a whole, which is under pressure from strong competition from the United States and China and has been slow to take up the competitiveness challenge.
That delay, amid international instability and rising defence spending, poses very serious threats to social cohesion. It fuels the rise of the far right, political polarisation and social conflict — developments we are seeing in different forms in Germany, France and Spain.
Mario Draghi warned in his report on European competitiveness that, unless Europe makes the necessary changes, it risks entering a “slow decline”.
Europe now appears to recognise the problem: without a strong productive and industrial base, there can be no genuine strategic autonomy. Greece must, and wants to, play an active part in this effort, with a stronger productive base, more investment, greater outward orientation, innovation and a stronger presence in European value chains.
For our homeland, however, the need for such a strategy is also a matter of national strength and security.
We live in a difficult neighbourhood, where countries with which we have traditionally had serious difficulties in our relations, such as Turkey, have grown significantly stronger. The figures speak for themselves: in 1974, the Greek economy was equivalent to almost 71% of Turkey’s GDP. Today, it is about 18%.
Our homeland must have exceptionally strong armed forces, because they guarantee our territorial integrity and national sovereignty. Over the past seven years, we have taken substantial steps to strengthen their deterrent capability through major arms programmes and upgrades to their operational capabilities.
But a country’s strength is not defined by its defences alone. A country’s real strength rests on two pillars: strong armed forces and an equally strong, productive and competitive economy. Without economic strength, we will not be able to continue providing the funds needed to maintain exceptionally strong Greek armed forces.
That is why the productive transformation of the Greek economy is a matter of national importance.
Thanks to the policies of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government and the considerable efforts of the Greek people, our homeland has achieved a great deal over the past seven years.
With political stability and a consistent reform plan, it regained fiscal credibility and international confidence. A country that was at the heart of the European debt crisis only a few years ago can now borrow more cheaply than even four G7 countries.
Over these seven years, unemployment has fallen dramatically, public finances have strengthened, investment has risen and international confidence in the Greek economy has been restored. These are major achievements, and we should neither underestimate them nor take them for granted.
Despite the fiscal progress, however, the Greek economy continues to face a serious structural problem: deficits in the trade balance and the current account. Although both indicators have improved, the two deficits remain high as a share of GDP — close to their levels in 2001, the year our homeland joined the eurozone.
Fiscal stability alone is not enough to address this. We need a more competitive economy, with higher productivity — an economy that produces more and exports more.
This is precisely the national imperative behind the productive transformation of the Greek economy, which we have made a central focus of our policy. We are prioritising industry and manufacturing, innovation, the revitalisation of the primary sector and links between production and new technologies.
This new production model is not an abstract plan, but a concrete programme now being implemented, with the Ministry of Development playing a leading role. And the results are already visible.
The value added by industry has exceeded €32 billion.
Industry’s share of GDP has risen significantly, from 13.9% in 2019 to 15.5% in 2024, while manufacturing’s share increased from 7.8% to 8.9%. This shows that our homeland is gradually but steadily building a stronger productive base.
60,000 new jobs have been created in manufacturing. This has made a significant contribution to the overall increase in employment, with 600,000 new jobs created in the Greek economy over the past seven years.
The sector has become more outward-looking and manufacturing exports have risen significantly, from €23 billion in 2019 to €37 billion in 2025 — an impressive increase of 63%.
Under the Development Law, we prioritised productive investment, manufacturing, large-scale investment and Greece’s regions. Today, 930 investment projects worth more than €3.1 billion are being implemented, with support exceeding €1.5 billion and creating more than 15,000 new jobs.
In the past, 90% of Development Law funding went to tourism. Now, 90% goes to industry.
We have also earned the market’s trust. Assessments under the Development Law used to take up to two years.
We pledged that investment projects submitted for inclusion under the Development Law would be assessed within 90 days, using clear criteria and transparently. And we delivered. This is the fastest turnaround in Europe for programmes of this kind.
We recovered €150 million from companies that had received subsidies over the previous 20 years to make investments they never made. This reflects our determination to show every Greek that we respect every last euro of the Greek taxpayer’s money. The law must apply to everyone, even when that means taking painful decisions. And I believe we did the right thing.
Key sectors of Greek industry are showing strong growth potential, underpinned by significant investment, innovation and exports.
We see it in the pharmaceutical industry — a sector that combines production, research, investment, innovation and exports. Greece has 51 production units and 31 research and development facilities, while investment of about €1.8 billion has been made over the past six years. It is a sector of strategic importance both to the Greek economy and to European health security.
We see it in the food industry, the largest sector of Greek manufacturing. It has turnover of more than €26 billion, exports of €7.4 billion and more than 160,000 direct jobs. It is a clear example of how the primary sector, manufacturing and outward orientation can be linked to generate greater added value for the Greek economy.
We see it in the aluminium industry, where Greece has a strong international presence and a positive export balance approaching €1 billion a year.
We also see it in the shipbuilding industry, which is being rebuilt after years of decline — in Elefsina, Syros and Skaramangas. As one of the world’s leading shipping powers, Greece should also have an equally strong shipbuilding industry. This is a matter of productive capacity as well as national security. That is why reviving shipbuilding is a national priority for us and a key part of the new production model.
At the Elefsina shipyards, the strategic partnership with the United States and the government development bank DFC, which has financed through a bond loan the shipyards’ return to normal economic activity and the expansion of their operations in the commercial, transit, energy and defence sectors, further enhances the investment’s geopolitical significance.
At the same time, we are developing a national strategy for semiconductors, a critical sector that will determine technological and productive strength over the coming decade.
I would also like to focus on critical raw materials, access to which is becoming one of the most important prerequisites for Europe’s strategic autonomy. No one can speak seriously about artificial intelligence, semiconductors, electric mobility and advanced defence systems without securing the raw materials needed to develop and produce them. Greece has the potential to gain a significant geopolitical advantage in this field.
A case in point is METLEN’s flagship investment in gallium production. This strategic investment of €340 million has been included in the Flagship Investments scheme, and the Ministry of Development is providing €120 million in support, enabling Greece to produce 50 tonnes of gallium a year — the EU’s total annual requirement. The United States needs about 20 tonnes of gallium a year. With this flagship investment, Greece has therefore put itself on the map for critical raw materials.
The major investment by Hellas Gold at Skouries in Halkidiki, worth more than $2 billion and aimed at developing copper and gold deposits, is part of the same strategic vision.
It is one of the most significant foreign productive investments in our country in recent decades, and its importance extends beyond Greece’s borders. That is why the European Commission designated the Skouries mine a Strategic Project under the EU Critical Raw Materials Regulation.
This is tangible recognition of our country’s ability to contribute to the security of supply for Greek and European industry, particularly of copper — a metal essential for electricity grids, new technologies and the energy transition.
It also highlights our own strategic choice: to develop the mineral wealth beneath Greek soil using modern technologies, with respect for the environment and tangible benefits for the economy, employment and local communities.
Energy is, of course, an equally critical factor. There can be no competitive industry without competitive energy costs.
Our progress in generating energy from renewable sources has been significant: their share of electricity generation has risen from about 37% in 2019 to 54% today. Our aim is to build on this momentum, securing cheaper energy for Greek industry and manufacturing and boosting the competitiveness of Greek products.
In this regard, the Greece–Egypt electricity interconnection, GREGY, is also particularly important. It envisages the transmission of 3,000 megawatts of green electricity. Once completed, this strategic project will create the conditions for access to cheaper energy and, consequently, lower production costs for Greek products.
At the same time, we are pursuing a strategy to modernise transport infrastructure, with the aim of supporting industry and manufacturing. To put it simply, trains pass industrial zones, but the necessary infrastructure is not in place for them to stop there, unload and collect goods. This is a discussion we are having today as part of the modernisation of rail transport: ensuring that key ports, industrial facilities and business parks are served, so that our industry and industrial investment can grow there.
And as knowledge becomes an increasingly decisive factor in the competitiveness challenge, we are investing in practice in research and innovation as key pillars of the productive transformation.
We are completing projects worth more than €300 million to upgrade research infrastructure across the country. This is a prerequisite for the development of applied research and innovation, and for even more of the young scientists who left to work abroad during the crisis to return to high-level jobs, with the opportunity to contribute to the economy and earn much better salaries.
We are providing strong tax incentives for research and development, with enhanced deductions of up to 315%, and preparing a special scheme under the Development Law, worth €150 million, for artificial intelligence and new technologies. The scheme will be open exclusively to small and medium-sized enterprises. They too must get on board with new technologies as soon as possible, or their viability — at least in a range of sectors — will be a major question mark.
And, of course, a plan for a more productive economy and a stronger Greece also requires major reform of technical education and the skilled trades. Industry and production need people with technical knowledge and skills. Today, employers in manufacturing and industry are looking for workers with technical qualifications and are finding it extremely difficult to recruit them. Rebuilding technical education is a prerequisite for the genuine productive transformation of the economy. One of the worst things the government of Alexis Tsipras did was dismantle technical education.
Friends, everything I have mentioned forms part of an overarching strategy aimed not only at a more productive economy but also at reducing social and regional inequalities.
As we look towards 2030, Greece has two major goals: to put the brakes on demographic decline and to reduce social and regional inequalities. Demographic change has become a critical factor in national security and in the sustainability of our homeland and nation. Reducing inequalities is also critical to safeguarding national cohesion.
That is why we are directing more resources and productive investment to Greece’s regions, to border areas and to less developed parts of our homeland. There can be no truly strong and productive Greece without strong regional development. We want young people to be able to stay and build a future where they come from.
For a young person to be able to live in their own community, however, they need a good job. And there must be education and healthcare infrastructure so that a man and a woman can start a family there.
That is how we can also address the extremely serious demographic problem, which poses a major threat to our homeland’s future.
Making all this happen requires a comprehensive national strategy, pursued consistently over time and backed by society. It requires a broad social majority, which must also be reflected in the next election, with New Democracy at its core.
So that our homeland can remain strong and secure amid international uncertainty and major upheavals. Because the only truly secure Greece is a productive Greece.
Thank you for your attention.”.