Ο Πρωθυπουργός κ. Αντώνης Σαμαράς συναντήθηκε σήμερα με τον Chairman και CEO της Dow Chemical Companyκ. Andrew Liveris και τον Γενικό Διευθυντή της IBM Ευρώπης κ. Rich Hume, παρουσία και άλλων ηγετικών στελεχών των δυο εταιριών και του υφυπουργού Ανάπτυξης και Ανταγωνιστικότητας κ. Νότη Μηταράκη. Μετά το πέρας της συνάντησης έγιναν οι ακόλουθες δηλώσεις:
Νότης Μηταράκης:Ο Πρωθυπουργός δέχτηκε σήμερα τον κ. Andrew Liveris, επικεφαλής της Dow Chemical και τον κ. Rich Hume, Γενικό Διευθυντή Ευρώπης της IBM, οι οποίοι θα ανακοινώσουν σήμερα μια νέα συνεργασία των δυο εταιριών εντός Ελληνικού εδάφους, το οποίο θα δημιουργήσει ένα σημαντικό αριθμό ποιοτικών θέσεων εργασίας στη Χώρα μας. Είναι εμφανές ότι καθημερινά το επενδυτικό κλίμα για την Ελλάδα αλλάζει. Βλέπουμε μια συστηματική ροή ξένων επενδύσεων, βλέπουμε το ενδιαφέρον ξένων μεγάλων εταιριών να έρθουν στη Χώρα μας. Επίσης- κι αυτό το τονίζει η σημερινή παρουσία- βλέπουμε ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον από ξένες εταιρίες να έρθουν στη Χώρα μας λόγω του υψηλού επιπέδου της μόρφωσης των νέων παιδιών στη Χώρα μας, στελέχη τα οποία μπορούν να ανταπεξέλθουν στις απαιτήσεις της διεθνούς οικονομίας. Κύριε Liveris.
Andrew Liveris: Thank you very much. Even though I can speak Greek, I’m going to say this in English. Firstly, I am very pleased to be here with our partner from IBM. Dow has been working in Europe for over 60 years and has been in Greece that long too- our original investment was in Lavrion and it’s still there. We’ve always understood the talents and capabilities of the Greek people and, of course, Greece’s crisis of last five years has been a pretty dramatic one and, of course, investment is what Greece needs for its future. We’ve been working very closely with the Greek government and Prime Minister Samaras. We have seen a change in Greece. We’ve seen a restoration of confidence and credibility; we’ve seen liquidity come back. But of course, to really grow you need investment and our partners at IBM and Dow together today are announcing a service delivery center, which will credit a number of valuable jobs. It’s the beginning of supply change for big companies recognize the talents of Greece and the people of Greece.And of course, the two companies together are making this announcement today. We could have chosen anywhere in the world to put this, we could have chosen anywhere in Europe to put this, we chose to put it in Greece. And that’s because the Prime Minister and his team and the development capabilities of Greece has been known to me personally for sometime but is really creating a pro business, pro market environment. The people of Greece have been through a lot in the last five years. They deserve a better economy and a better environment then what they have gone through. I hope this is a signal that if you build the right market environment, companies will come.
Δημοσιογράφος: Are you optimistic that Greece will overcome the crisis?
Andrew Liveris: I am very optimistic. I will answer your questions in a minute. I want to pass you to Rich Hume, so he can make a few statements and will get some Q&A going.
Rich Hume:Thank you Andrew, it’s a privilege to represent IBM and it is a privilege to partner with such a great company like Dow on this effort. IBM has been in Greece since 1937, so more than seven decades. And we as well see great talent and opportunity here. In April of this year we announced a big data and analytics capability. This is the emerging part of the technology industry. Now we have the opportunity to partner with Dow to grow our capability here in Greece. We are excited about the opportunity, we know that there is a great talent pool here and we look for opportunities like this with a great partner, Dow, to extend our reach within your market. I really look forward to a successful future and building upon this service delivery center is we move through time with Dow. Thank you.
Δημοσιογράφος: Can you define the number of jobs?
Andrew Liveris: We have decided that we will keep that company confidential for now, but let me put it this way; These are high knowledge capability jobs, there will be significant numbers over time but our good partners like IBM began this with that capability here, they employ quite a lot of people here. Let Rich answer if he wants to that. This particular new center will add a significant number of jobs over time.
Rich Hume:Yes, we as well do not come to a number of resources but, as I said earlier, we built big data and analytics capability announced in March, we now put this capability on top and we plan to, through time, continueto grow the capabilities we have here in Greece.
