Optimism that the battle for a stable economic environment being waged in the EU will be won, with Greece o n the front line, was expressed by prime minister George Papandreou at a Regional Development Ministry event in Thessaloniki on Friday attended by representatives of the productive sectors.
The creation of a stable economic environment will generate confidence and give answers to the business community's fears regarding investment risks, Papandreou said.
On the calls for development, Papandreou put the question "what kind of development do we want?", and replied "not a return to the growth of the past that was state-dependent and found on unreturned loans or on subsidisation of doomed investments".
That growth model was a failure, he explained, because 75-80 percent was founded on consumption of imported products, he said, noting that his government is advancing a new growth model, that of green viable growth, which is founded on the country's comparative advantages and the quality of products and services.
The Pasok government has a realistic plan for improving entrepreneurship and promoting innovation, the premier added.
Papandreou called for ideas and proposals, given that the government's target is healthy entrepreneurship with permanent and stable jobs.
On northern Greece more particularly, he said it has knowhow, experience and innovative enterprises, stressing that the government is seeking to enhance its extroversion and boost exports.
The premier put great importance on clamping down on corruption and eliminating bureaucracy, noting that in every conversation he has abroad on investments, these two issues always come up.
On the changes being promoted by the government, Papandreou reiterated that they are not being imposed on Greece by anyone, but "we are making them of our own accord", and added that the difficult situation the country is currently going through renders them even more imperative.
The country must rid itself of the "vicious circle of disaster-mongering", and expressed certainty that the Greeks will, as they have done in the past, succeed once again at this difficult conjuncture.
He recalled that from its first year in office the government put the weight on fiscal adjustment, and now the weight was shifting to changing everything that led to the crisis and to introducing a different growth model.
Papandreou said the government would very much like to reduce the taxation on businesses, but the economic conjuncture does not allow it, adding that if tax evasion and contribution evasion is eliminated then taxation on and contributions of businesses will be reduced.
The premier stressed that the government wishes to create a business-friendly environment free of corruption and bureaucracy.
source: ana-mpa
