THE 4TH ANNUAL CAPITAL LINK FORUM CONFERENCE
Monday October 30, 2000

"GREECE: YOUR EMU PARTNER IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE"

Hon. Dimitris L. Avramopoulos

MAYOR OF ATHENS

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends,

It is a honor and pleasure for me to have this opportunity to address such a distinguished audience, here at the Fourth Annual Forum on Greece and Southeast Europe. I would like to congratulate the two organizers of the meeting: the Greek - American Chamber of Commerce, which has been so productive in promoting Greek-American relations, and the active investment communication consultant company, Capital Link.

It is significant that this meeting is taking place in New York, the capital of the global economy, and it is promising to see an initiative that aims to enhance the awareness of American investors and businessmen about Greece, now that my country became officially member of the European Economic and Monetary Union. I am confident that the speakers of this Forum, as well as the distinguished Greek businessmen who are attending this meeting , will give our American friends an a full and clear picture of the potential for investment and business activity, via Greece, in Southeast Europe, and will also inform them about the positive economic developments that have taken place in Greece in recent years.

Besides its broader, multidimensional role in Southeast Europe, Greece itself offers very attractive business opportunities, especially in view of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

The challenge is that we want to be able to rejoice at the return of the games to their birthplace by hosting with success the greatest celebration on earth. Fundamental to the realization of this challenge, is the transformation of the City of Athens into a model city for the millennium. Works are already in progress and much has already been achieved. The transformation of the City is based on three large scale infrastructure projects. The first part of which - the construction of the subway and the new Athens international airport - the most modern in Europe, with a capacity to handle over 16 millions travelers a year - has already completed. Also by the year 2001 - this is the second part - a total of 71 km of new motorways will be operational, linking the new airport with the central Athens, together with the construction of a new ring road with 32 interchanges connecting the Attica region.

The third part is a comprehensive environmental program which is already being implemented in the region of Athens with spectacular results, reducing the number of cars in the city center by more than a quarter of a million per day, and the atmospheric pollution by 35% placing Athens well below all minimum atmospheric standards set by the European Union.

The old airport will cease to operate when the new airport will be fully operational in March 2001. This area, some 5000 acres of land, will then be turned into a Green Metropolitan Zone, near the sea.

On the other hand, the center of Athens is becoming an Archaeological Park., thus increasing green areas within the city as well. Roads will be turned into green pedestrian ways that will connect all historical sights, monuments and museums of the city.

Beyond the Games themselves, the preparations for the Olympic have as their goal the life of the City of Athens the day after the closing ceremonies. We are determined to achieve the best positive Olympic Games in history, the infrastructure for which will have been developed with respect to both the natural urban environment with the result that the City will be more beautiful, more humane and more functional, a City with more light.

Besides the fact that we shall see the Olympics returning home, which is itself an event rich in historical and symbolic significance, the 2004 Athens Olympic Games will be the first to be hosted in the European Union and the European continent in the new millennium, and as such they need to be approached by the American and international business community.

What, indeed, could be more natural or more consistent with history and tradition? When the host city, the capital of contemporary Hellenism-the City of Athens-is the historical capital of Europe, the capital of democracy and of the Olympic spirit.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There can be little doubt that the 21st century - a century of globalization - will see the citizen who will be directly affected by global political and economic developments, especially in our world, which is becoming smaller- this is the essence of globalization- and where the international role of cities, and, by extension of the citizens they represent, is growing in importance. This, after all, is the main target of the principle of "Subsidiarity", that was first introduced by the European Union and that prefers decisions to be taken as closely as possible to the citizen.

Think globally and act locally. This phrase sums up the new philosophy of the new global society, far from the narrow limitations of nationalism, introspection and shortsighted policies, that not only failed to produce positive results, but even threatened the social fabric of states, giving rise to an irrational and unproductive conflict between business activity and social sensitivity. Such approaches belong to the past. New mentalities and new institutions, in short, new politics must point to a brighter future. This is the message of our time.

In this context the city of Athens has taken a variety of international, regional and bilateral initiatives with special emphasis on Southeast Europe, in order to promote the relations between cities for the benefit of the citizens.

Athens and Istanbul for example after the earthquakes of last year started a new chapter in their relations, paving the way to a Greek-Turkish rapprochement. The two cities responded what I would call to a "conspiracy between History and nature" and they still insist to this direction, despite some late negative developments between the two countries, in the context of the NATO exercise where Turkey advanced all theories, which are proved to be contrary to the international law and practice.

I shall not test your patience by recounting here all of these initiatives, many of which are perhaps familiar to you. I shall just say a few words about initiatives that have a direct bearing on this meeting and the city in which it is being held.

First, the permanent Conference of the Mayors of the Capitals of Southwest Europe. This was an initiative of Athens, which led to the creation of this regional institutional body, which convenes at regular meetings and promotes matters relating to local government and economic and cultural cooperation between the capitals of the region. This conference has proved to be highly important and useful, particularly during the armed conflicts that took place in the former Yugoslavia, since it enabled the people of the region to communicate through the links between the cities. The mayors of Belgrade and Sarajevo signed in 1995 the first founding "Declaration of Athens", despite the opposition of their respective governments, at a time when blood was flowing on the streets of Sarajevo.

The international activity of the City of Athens is also extended to the relations between Cities of Southeast and of the rest of Europe. Athens and Vienna are the only cities members of the Conference of Southeast Europe, which are also members of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union. Many successful initiatives have been taken from Athens, in order to motivate the Committee of the Regions to take positions in favor of peace, security and respect of civil and economic rights of the people in the area of Southeast Europe.

Our efforts are also pointed in the context of the Council of Europe. Next month I will chair a meeting in Skopje of the Seventh Economic Forum of Cities and Regions of Southeast Europe, organized in the framework of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe by the European Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.

Our objectives in this respect are to stimulate contacts between Southeastern Europe and other European Cities, to promote dialogue and exchange of know-how by associating economic action and to encourage the development of projects of cooperation and assistance in various fields, such as local administration and the management of local finances.

All these initiatives and other international activities led to a new theory, the "Diplomacy of the Cities". A new parameter in international relations that was introduced by Athens, and which was officially endorsed by the Secretary General of the United Nations after a meeting between Mr.Kofi Annan and myself, here New York, last March.

The aim of the "Diplomacy of the Cities" is to break the mould of traditional and anachronistic politics, in order to ensure the efficiency of our institutions and maximize the participation of the citizens to the decisions that shape their future. The vision-for modern cities at the turn of the century are to give expression to a global cosmos to a global democracy.

The city on the eve of the 3rd millennium is welding together a new society of citizens, intent to balance economic growth with social cohesion, innovation in technology with equilibrium with our natural environment.

Dear Friends,

It was Athens that gave international currency to the term "Southeast Europe", replacing the politically, economically and socially burdened term of "Balkans". It is hoped that Southeast Europe will no longer be approached as the "poor relative", because, quite apart from its dynamism - which will become ever more evident as the democratic process involves in Yugoslavia - the region also contains Greece, the only country in the area which is a full member of the European Union and the euro zone, of NATO and of the West European Union. Greece accounts for more than a half of total productivity of the area and over 70% of foreign business active in South East Europe are based in Greece particularly in Athens.

You are, therefore, being invited to invest in Greece. You are being invited to work with Greek businessmen that are familiar with the region. You are being invited to broaden you activities throughout the entire region of Southeast Europe.

I wish you every success in your proceedings and I am sure that when you have finished you work here you will be confident that brighter future is awaiting the region, and you will be better informed about Greece- your "European Monetary Union Partner in Southeast Europe" - and its business prospects, as we embark on the new century.

Thank you

ORGANIZERS