Monday, May 7th, 2001 The Pierre Hotel, New York City

Distinguished Foreign Minister of Greece, Papandreou,
Ambassadors Burns, Philon, Gounaris, Sotirhos,
Counsul General Platis,
Honored Guests, Conferees,
Ladies & Gentlemen,

Permit me to extend a warm welcome to all attending this conference, jointly organized by CAPITAL LINK and the US-Greece Business Council.

Here, I must single out Minister Papandreou who is joining us today, despite his heavy schedule and prior commitments.

I would also like to thank my good friend, Ambassador Burns, who traveled from Greece especially for this event.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I feel certain, that we will find this morning's session extremely interesting. Investment opportunities in Greece will be addressed by outstanding speakers.

First, let me say a few words about the Business Council. This organization was created to facilitate both Greek and American business communities come closer to each other and explore ways of doing business together in a private, non-bureaucratic way.

This is not a one-way street. We work towards this goal, not only for investors interested in Greece and the South Eastern Europe area, but also for Greek corporations looking for investment opportunities in the United States. I speak from personal experience as Chairman of Lavipharm, which has made investments in the country establishing its Research facilities in New Jersey.

The Business Council has a Chapter in Greece, where I am honored to be the Chairman, and one in the United States chaired by my good friend, Alex Spanos, who could not be with us today. But the US Chapter is represented by its Vice-Chairman Shearman Lewis of Lehman Brothers and Bob Kaplan of Philip Morris - both of whom I thank for their excellent work and continued support.

Bring people together in today's volatile and politicalised world is, sometimes, difficult, especially when confidentiality and trust are essential in business relationships. The Business Council has been far successful in providing information through periodic meetings and exchanges. Also, we have built fruitful bridges for serious potential investors with cabinet ministers and other enhancing authorities.

Today, we add a new dimension, that of discussing and informing the conferees about the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. We will have the pleasure, in a little while, to hear from Mrs. Gianna Angelopoulos - Daskalaki, who will brief us in full. Can the Games help Greece? Of course they can. By speeding the reform process, creating modern infrastructure in transportation and communications and elaborating a timetable for construction, energy and security. We believe Athens 2004 will open new lines of interest, as well as a host of opportunities.

Now, a few words about the Greek economy and its stock market. In the past 10 years, Greece has met the Maastrict criteria for entry into the economic and monetary union by implementing a series of reforms to achieve these goals. Both inflation and the deficit have declined to acceptable levels, interest rates have decreased to be equal to the rest of Europe and growth has accelerated substantially.

Nevertheless, there is more to be done. Additional reforms are needed in the fields of banking, market competitiveness and labor, where the social security system must be reviewed immediately.

If all such reform takes place, along with an extensive privatisation program, then conventional wisdom concludes a dramatic rise in the stock market. The correction progress - influenced by world markets evolution - will take time. Nevertheless, businesses were forced to make reforms, such as accelerated restructuring to compete in a European playing field. The result ? Some companies have become extremely attractive. They stopped non-profitable or low margin activities, changed working conditions, implemented cost controls, addressed new markets, built new production facilities, outsourced work, modernized and emphasized technology and fine tuned their marketing.

These streamlined companies, both competitive and undervalued, now offer excellent investment opportunities, which become more and more attractive due to the upcoming inclusion of Greece in the Morgan Stanley Capital International Index joining the community of mature markets.

In closing, let me stress out/ once more/ the fact/ that Greek environment is changing dramatically. I invite you all to explore and thoroughly examine the prospects and potential now offered in Greece and I suggest that you don't miss the chance of these new and competitive investment opportunities which will allow for rapid and satisfactory returns to shareholders.

Thanks again for attending. I am sure the dividends will meet your expectations.