NEW YORK – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed the belief that Greece is a changing country during his brief speech at a luncheon with representatives of Greek-American organizations which took place at the residence of Greece’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

In the presence of Archbishop Elpidophoros of America and Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Fr. Alexandros Karloutsos, Mitsotakis had the opportunity to meet representatives of important institutions of the Greek-American community, although in a narrower context than originally planned, since this contact was originally to take place on Monday at the Harvard Club. At that time he was represented by Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis.

Mitsotakis, after shaking hands and having brief conversations with the attendees shortly before the start of the event, addressed the gathering after brief welcomes from Archbishop Elpidophoros and Mike Manatos, President of the Washington, DC lobbying firm of Manatos and Manatos.

The Prime Minister began by speaking of the unprecedented disasters that occurred recently in Thessaly. “The country is resilient,” he emphasized, adding that, “the economy is doing rather well. We will recover from this natural disaster, with some help from our European friends but also from Greeks – from within Greece but also  from abroad. We will make sure that we don’t just build back what was destroyed by water, but we will make sure that we build it back better, because what we experienced this summer was the reality of the climate crisis impacting all of us. It is our obligation to make sure that we come up with a resilient response to what will be events which will take place with greater frequency. This is a fact and we must respond to that.”

Mitsotakis then referred to the meeting he had earlier in the day with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reiterating Greece’s longstanding positions regarding the Cyprus problem and its solution within the framework of UN Security Council resolutions.

Mitsotakis reiterated his firm commitment to a solution of the Cyprus problem that will fully respect the resolutions of the UN Security Council. He said that far as Greece is concerned, any solution outside those parameters, any idea or any discussion of a two-state solution is simply unacceptable, and he noted that he had the opportunity to communicate that earlier in the day to Erdogan.

At the same time, the Prime Minister referred to the course of the Greek economy, placing particular emphasis on recent successes in upgrading the country’s credit rating.

“Indeed, the economy is doing extremely well,” he said. “We are growing much faster than the rest of the eurozone. Not only will there be no recession in Greece, but we expect to grow by more than 2% this year. We continue to attract significant foreign investment – we are constantly strengthening the Greek brand across various sectors,” and he added that they are “making sure that Greece is punching above its weight, whether it is on issues related to the European Union or whether it comes to our broader region.”

He also emphasized that the strong mandate he received from voters this summer will make it possible to continue to move forward on important reforms.

Exhortation Expats to Participate in Elections

Towards the end of his speech, Mitsotakis switched to speaking in Greek, in order speak talk to Greek expatriates about the recent changes in the electoral law. Greeks abroad now have the right to vote from their place of residence without the restrictions that applied through the elections of the past June and May.

“If you are registered to vote, you can vote here or wherever you are during the next election. The next elections are the European Parliament elections and I think this is a very important success – it is a success for the nation. We managed to remove all the obstacles that the previous law had. I think that in this way there will be a much more active participation of Greeks abroad, the Diaspora, the Diaspora of the United States, in the [debates] of our country. This larger, more systematic participation in public affairs will only do good, and I am particularly glad that we managed to convince the other parties that we must move in this direction,” Mitsotakis stressed.

The event was also attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandra Papadopoulou, Greece’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris, Consul General of Greece in New York Dinos Konstantinou, businessman John Koudounis, PSEKA President Philip Christopher, ALMA Bank Senior Advisor Nancy Papaioannou, Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Chairman Clay Maitland, HALC Executive Director Endy Zemenides, AHI President Nick Larigakis, and representatives of 17 Greek-American organizations