official texts and speeches
Remarks by Ambassador Thomas J. Miller at Luncheon hosted by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Rodopi
“Kosmos” Restaurant
Komotini, February 9, 2002
Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you very much for the invitation for my trip here, thank you for everything.
I had some very good conversations over the last two days. I now have a much clearer picture of the tremendous opportunities for American business people in Thrace. Before talking about some of those opportunities let us take a step back for a second. Almost all of my conversations over the last two days have been about investment, economic development, jobs; this is very different than if I had been the American Ambassador ten or fifteen years ago. The American Ambassador, ten or fifteen years ago would have come up here to check out the human rights situation, to check out the border with Turkey and maybe he would have brought with him his military attaché to check out the border with Bulgaria as well. The fact that the theme, the aim of my visit is so different is in large part due to the tremendous efforts of people in this room.
I have learned in the last two days that Thrace is a very special place, is a very attractive place for investment, for five reasons. There are many other reasons, but these are reasons that I think particularly address an American audience, address American investors. Therefore, if I leave out some things is not that I am leaving them out because I do not think they are important, it is just that I am trying to help you focus the message for the American business community. In doing so I want to suggest that you work very closely with Mr. Stefanos Costopoulos and his colleagues at the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce because they are with me to help focus this message. I urge you to also work closely with our Consul General John Koenig and Commercial Officer Jeremy Keller and their colleagues because, while they are not going to find those business opportunities for you, they can provide information that provides the connections.
Why am I so interested in this? I think that Mr. Angelidis said it better than I can. “If you look at a map you will see why Thrace is important”. It is in the center of everything. We have a tremendous interest. We no longer look at Greece as Greece in itself. We no longer look at the Greek market as a market of 10.9 million. We look at Greece as the beachhead, if you will, or the engine into the Balkans and we look at it as a market of 50 million.
The message that I will carry back to American investors is the message to “take another look at Thrace.” This is an area in Greece that has an incentive package unlike any other area anywhere in Greece. When American investors say, “well, that is okay, but I thought I heard that there were some problems, that the populations did not get along so well,” my answer would be “that might have been true at one time but it is not anymore.” If American investors will say, “well, I thought I remember that there were some problems at the border,” my message would be, “that might have been true at one time but no longer.” An American investor might say, “well, yes, but this is an area that has not so well developed transportation and communication services.” I will tell them “the last time I was here as the Charge d’ Affairs, the Egnatia highway was just a piece of paper and now it is a reality.” To those who would say, “well okay, I understand what you are saying but what about the labor pool; we would rather have a labor pool in Athens where there is a lot of skilled labor, where there are a lot of educational opportunities,” my message to them on that would be “think again, think about the different campuses in Thrace.” My message is not going to be just to American factories, to people who produce things, it will also be a message to people who produce services, who deliver services, it will be a message to people in the Information Technology field.
I have learned a lot of things in the last couple of days about this area; it is not in any way, shape or form the backwards area that some people used to think it was. The challenge is not so much what my predecessors would have said about “improving your business environment and business will come.” This is yesterday’s message. I think what you have done is frankly miraculous. You created a much more attractive business climate for investments. The challenge is to get the secret out. That is where we can help you. We can not do the whole job for you. The challenge is to convey that message to American investors, who, unlike their European colleagues, know less about this part of the world. The challenge is to look at the competition; sometimes that competition is the European Union, sometimes that competition is some of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe. To figure out how to frame that message in a way that reaches all the key audiences, only one of which in an American audience.
I must confess that I am tremendously impressed after my short visit, with the opportunities, with the fact that we talked about opportunities instead of hazards, with the fact that the entire wording has changed. What I am suggesting is, if you make an analogy of comparing foreign investment and economic development in Thrace to a horse race, you are 75% of the way there. That last 25% is to get the word out, to get the secret out. I am a diplomat and I deal with secrets. This is one that you do not want to be a secret. The rest of the international community, and in my particular case, U.S. investors, should be aware of the fantastic opportunities here.
For those of you who expected me to give a heavy political speech, I am sorry. But I do want to thank you all very sincerely for the expressions of good will, understanding and sympathy we received from all over Greece, from many of you here, for the events of September 11th. We are coming back. I think the recession that we have all been trouble by over the last several months is coming to an end; the US is coming out of this recession now and doing quite well.
In conclusion, when I talk to my colleagues, when I talk to U.S. investors about Greece, I have a real good story to tell. I have the advantage of having been here when it was not such a good story to tell. I remember what it was like yesterday, when I arrived in my first post in the country in 1985, when a good year of inflation was under 20% -- you would not have been able to have the new currency, the Euro, if inflation was not less than 3%. When the budget deficits were way out of sight, when your debt was well above 100%, when Greece was at the tail end of Gross Domestic Product growth in Europe. Now, the 3.8% growth projected for this year is the highest not only in the European Union but all the OECD countries. There is a good story to tell here. I, as American Ambassador, look forward to the next three or four years that I will be here to tell that story.
Thank you very much.