Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held a video conference on Tuesday with the president of The Hellenic Initiative, Andrew N. Liveris, and the president of The Hellenic Initiative of Australia, Nicholas Pappas.
During the meeting, the PM noted the strong ties that connect Greeks living in Australia with their homeland and spoke about ways to strengthen this bond. The video conference was watched online by many members of the Greek community in Australia.
The Prime Minister warmly greeted those who attended the conference and promised to visit them again one day. “I tried to come to Australia,” he explained, “but unfortunately, because of Covid-19, we had to reschedule our trips, so I hope that in either 2021 or 2022 I will be able to come to get to know this extremely dynamic and vibrant Greek community.”
Referring to the many upcoming events of 2021, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the beginning of Greece’s struggle for independence in 1821, the Prime Minister stressed that it was also an opportunity “to re-establish Greece in the world as a modern and dynamic country, which does not rely only on its glorious past but embraces the challenges of the future.”
PM Mitsotakis also underscored the importance of the right to vote for Greeks abroad, saying “We managed to solve a problem that had remained outstanding, one that the members of the Greek Diaspora always spoke to me about whenever I traveled abroad.
“From now on, especially the younger generation, those who left Greece in the last decade, will have the right to vote from their place of residence, without having to return to Greece,” he stated.
“We have three years until the next elections to make sure that everything works perfectly, and these will be the first elections in which polls will be set up around the world, especially where there are large Greek communities. In fact, you will be the first to vote due to the time difference,” the PM noted.
The participants told the Prime Minister how pleased they had been with the very positive image that Greece created abroad, not only while dealing with the first and second wave of the pandemic but with the other positive news coming out of the country, such as the recent announcement of the enormous investment by Microsoft.
PM Mitsotakis stressed that investments such as that from Microsoft show confidence in the long-term prospects of the country, while noting with pride that “Investments in Greece are no longer just about tourism, they are about digital and ‘green’ transformation, they are about skills.
“And that is why as a government, we have a very broad investment orientation and we have secured European resources for this transition.”
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