ATHENS – “Greece is now first in the European Union and 11th worldwide in the World Bank rankings for the time needed to start a new business. In Greece, you can now open a business in six minutes,” Development and Investment Minister Adonis Georgiadis said at an event of the Hellenic-Dutch Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which was attended by the Dutch ambassador to Greece, Stella Ronner-Grubacic.

“With the pro-business reforms of the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the shift in Greek society, which realises that we need investment and the private economy, our country has made significant progress in these eight months. We did better than we expected, and we still have a lot to do,” he said at the event on Tuesday, referring to the forthcoming legislative initiative of the ministry of environment and energy to accelerate the licensing of renewable energy sources.

The minister praised the Netherlands as one of the “key countries contributing to Greece’s staying in the euro and now seeing a bright future,” and set government priorities for boosting Dutch investment in Greece and boosting bilateral economic cooperation.

“The Netherlands is one of the most important countries in terms of the origin of companies that have invested in Greece. We want to increase this as much as we can and we are open to business partnerships. Problems will always arise but we are here to solve them and move on as quickly as possible. Now is the opportunity as there is a government and a prime minister in favour of investment,” Georgiadis said.