The Deputy Minister of Shipping and Insular Policy, Mr. Ioannis Pappas, held a meeting with a delegation of the Hellenic Confederation of Trade and Entrepreneurship (ESEE), at the Ministry of Shipping and Insular Policy. The ESEE delegation consisted of the President Mr. Giorgos Karanikas, the Vice-President Mr. Thodoris Kapralos, the General Secretary Mr. Nikos Bonis and the members of the Confederation’s Board of Directors Mr. Pavlos Politakis and Nikos Nomikos.
At the center of the discussion was the Ministry’s cooperation with the Confederation to support and strengthen island entrepreneurship as well as ways to further improve the island equivalent. In addition, the challenges faced by the business world of insular Greece were discussed and how the Greek state can be of help in strengthening a sense of stability and security for entrepreneurs who want to invest in the island regions.
On behalf of the ESEE, the issue of adopting an integrated policy for the substantial and comprehensive upgrade of the tourist product was raised, so that solutions can be found to the particular local problems, and at the same time the productive potential of each island is taken into account. Also, in the long meeting that took place, the need to provide incentives to the private sector was emphasized, with the aim of attracting new investments and initiatives, to strengthen island entrepreneurship.
The Deputy Minister of Shipping and Insular Policy, Mr. Pappas, stated:
“The goal of our fruitful meeting with the ESEE delegation was to establish the common understanding that exists for island entrepreneurship, the needs that exist and the goals that have been set. Our priorities are to create security for the islander and the Greek businessman, to be able and willing to invest in his island, with appropriate conditions and to feel that the state and the state are by his side and support small and medium entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship in gives birth. We want the business and tourism sector to be connected with the support lines of our islands, the so-called barren lines, which for us are development lines. The ways of cooperation between the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy and ESEE were discussed as well as ways of promoting and supporting island entrepreneurship. Equally important are the ways to support and strengthen the transport equivalent, in terms of its improvement and its efficiency for the Greek islander”.
The President of ESEE Mr. Karanikas stated:
“We had a particularly useful meeting in a very good atmosphere with the Deputy Minister as there is a common understanding that in the Greek islands the development of small and medium entrepreneurship is identified with the present and the future of local societies. Trade, tourism and agri-food are the pillars of development of island Greece and there are significant possibilities through synergies of the three branches. That is why we have called for targeted measures supported by dedicated funding programmes. We emphasized that the State always needs to take into account the higher costs and strong periodicity in demand faced by island businesses compared to the mainland, as well as the strong social, economic, geographical and demographic differences of each island region in policy-making.
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