Important meeting with Prime Minister George Papandreou during his U.S. visit.
Washington, D.C.- By Apostolos Zoupaniotis
Prime Minister George Papandreou had an important meeting last Tuesday, at the Ritz Carlton in Washington, with a group of 20 prominent Greek American to discuss with them the current financial crisis in Greece and ways to help the motherland in fighting through its harsh times. Despite bitter past experiences some of them had in doing business in Greece, the Greek American business leaders offered promises for investments, along with advises to make investing in Greece more attractive and friendly. Their advices include the need for reforms that cut the red tape and corruption and create a business friendly environment with increased productivity.
Commenting on the meeting, at the conclusion of his U.S. visit, Prime Minister Papandreou said that he saw “great interest and special sensitivity and patriotism in Hellenism abroad, also following the attacks that Greece is sustaining from the profiteers and declared that they are ready to contribute with investments during this difficult period.”
Greek American community is considered among the wealthiest in the country, with its 50 richest members to be worth more than 50 billion dollars, while their business or the capital they control surpasses the 300 billion dollar mark, or even half a trillion. Most of them are affiliated the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, holding leading lay leadership position in the Archdiocesan Council, Leadership 100, of the Faith Endowment.
Led by Archbishop Demetrios – who offered spiritual guidance, encouraging the businessmen to help Greece – the group included some of the most prominent and influential entrepreneurs, including some of the hedge fund wizards, such as James Chanos, of KYNICOS fund, who knows better than anyone the tactics of the speculators, but offered his services to his motherland.
Other prominent business leaders that participated were:
Andrew Liveris, President and CEO of Dow Chemical, Supermarket/Oil mogul John Catsimatidis, John P. Calamos (President of a $30 Billion Mutual Fund), Kyriakos Tsakopoulos, President and CEO of AKT Developers, ship owner Peter Georgiopoulos, Dennis Miehl, Harry Wilson, former hedge fund wizard and White House Auto Task Force member (responsible for the reorganization of the General Motors), George Sakellaris, President and CEO of AMERESCO (and alternative energy resources company), George Tsunis, Chairman of the Chartwell Hotel Chain, Peter J. Pappas, President of PJ Mechanical, Peter Papanicolaou, President of J&F Contracting, Chris Spyropoulos (Fur Imports, Restaurants), John D. Georges, CEO of Georges Enterprises and James Moschovites from Washington, D.C.
Peter Angelos, Ted Leonsis and Jim Gianopulos, CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment also show interest in the effort.
Following brief remarks by the Prime Minister and the Archbishop, some of the participants expressed their views on the current crisis, pointing out negative past experiences with Greek bureaucracy.
At the encouragement of the Archbishop, the Greek American business leaders asked father Alex Karloutsos to act as the liaison between the 20 business people that and along with Andrew Liveris, CEO of DOW CHEMICAL, to continue the dialogue with the Prime Minister’s office.
“We told the Prime Minister of past horror stories, but we said we still love our motherland and we still want to help”, John Catsimatidis told the Greek News.
“It was mostly advice and the advice I gave the Prime Minister was that many Greek Americans were burned in the past, because the people in Greece have their own club and they don’t really want any outsiders in it. I told him that it was very hard for a Greek American to try to do business. I suggested to him to start a separate cabinet position, a minister who will try to bring business and foreign investment into Greece and for that cabinet minister to report directly to the Prime Minister, in order to facilitate and cut all the red tape”.
According to Catsimatidis, the Greek Prime Minister told the group that ten people were arrested recently for corruption and that he intends to bring young and honest people into the government and have his government to run more efficiently.
“I am very hopeful that Greece will be in a positive position and I was very encouraged by the tone of the Prime Minister”, Catsimatidis concluded.
KYRIAKOS TSAKOPOULOS
Kyriakos Tsakopoulos, President and CEO of AKT offered the Greek News some of his thoughts on the current crisis in Greece.
Q. Have you followed the reports regarding Greece’s financial crisis? What is your opinion about the problem?
KT The Greek financial crisis is of concern to the global business community because, in addition to the great difficulties it presents for Greece and the European Community, the viability of both current and future Greek Bond Issuances affect global business markets and global confidence in the liquidity of markets.
Q. Do you think the international media and E.U. has exaggerated the importance of the crisis?
K.T. Greece faces a very difficult economic reality, with just $5 billion of its currently outstanding bonds being refinanced, and another $15 billion of its bonds coming up for refinancing in April and May of this year. The reporting on the crisis (and its underpinning causes of less than transparent reporting by previous Greek governments of accurate budget and economic data) appears even-handed and professional. The financial press is attempting to get as many facts out to the marketplace as possible so market participants can make rational choices going forward.
Q. The Greek government has imposed a series of ill-received austerity measures. Do you think that’s the only way out?
KT. The new government and the Prime Minister, Mr. Papandreou, have been handed a very difficult situation by the previous government. The magnitude of the incorrect financial reporting by the previous government is great, and so the “credibility gap” in financial reporting is significant. The new Prime Minister has been decisive in announcing difficult austerity measures both for budgetary restructuring and to reduce Greek government liabilities. This has been necessary to increase the Greek government’s credibility with both its European Union partners (most notably Germany and France) and with the global markets — all of whom will have to sign off on the “next steps” for Greece to be able to refinance the $15 billion of bonds that are up for refinancing in the next two months.
In short, PM Papandreou’s austerity steps are very difficult on the Greek people, but they are unavoidable if the situation is to be solved and the so-called “ad hoc” solution to the refinancing of the bonds is reached in a timely way. Otherwise, the Greek economy will suffer much more.
Q. Do you have an opinion on the loans Greece received from say Goldman Sachs, and the not-so-favorable loan terms available to the country at the moment?
KT. The various financial firms that advised the previous government to take enormous expenditures “off budget” with exotic instruments and less than transparent accounting were very harmful. For markets (and for governments) to operate efficiently, we need transparency. Both the financial firms and the previous Greek government should not have used these “off the books” financing schemes.
Unfortunately, the markets are now assessing Greek bonds (both current and future ones) based on the “real numbers” — and these real numbers do not look good, so refinancing is extremely expensive. PM Papandreou is doing the best, and most responsible, job possible given the difficulty of the Greek situation. His strong and decisive actions, both domestically and in meeting with the Germans, French and Americans, have made steady progress toward a possible solution.
I support the PM’s view that a European-based (as opposed to IMF-based) “ad hoc” solution can be found in the next 30 to 60 days. And I am actively trying to help with both advice and counsel to that end.
Q. Do you think Greeks abroad can contribute in any way to what seems to be a looming disaster in Greece? There have been some talks of bonds, special funds.
KT. Greeks abroad have always been part of “the solution” no matter what
the issues for the mother country are. We realize both the magnitude and difficulty of the issues, but we are all lending our support — both in the markets and through governmental action. In my view, aside from promoting the goodwill of Greece generally, we should continue to support this PM who is facing all the current difficulties head on, honestly and is pushing for a solution that accommodates the
needs of Greece, its European partners, and the global markets.
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