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INTERNATIONAL

gether, get into the Eurozone
and build infrastructure, and
organize the Olympic Games,
looking at the future with more
optimism. At the same time
there were problems, because
it was a growth built on loans,
and it did not build the actual
foundations for that. That was
actually the reason why it col-
lapsed.

Q. On a more personal note,
what do you do now? Still
into politics?
No, I have closed that chapter. I
look at other things. I like writ-
ing and speaking and I hope to
Fish farming, Argolic Gulf go into teaching. I also work
in the private sector doing ad-
crisis, was that Greece was a coun- where Greece can do well. What we visory work, trying to assist
try with deep-rooted problems and do not have unfortunately is a criti- people who would like to invest in
that came to a climax in 2009. This is cal mass that can lift the country up. Greece and find opportunities.
not the majority narrative in Greece. This is simply because we are lacking
There is still a lot of denial about foreign capital that can come in and Q: What are the sectors that people
what went wrong. Too much scape- help these companies. We are also can invest in today?
goating. We try to find easy targets missing the kind of environment that Well, tourism is an obvious one. There
for our problems. That worries me allows the young entrepreneur to do are lots of tourist properties that are
a lot. Even if we have fixed some fis- it. We lack the structure that exists in cheap and interesting at the moment.
cal issues, some structural issues, we many European countries. There are also other sectors, such as
have not really, as a people, gone to fish farming. Greece is the leader in
the bottom of what is wrong with the In the education system there is also Mediterranean fish in Europe. Our
country, and lot of it is about institu- a serious problem. We have some main competitor is Turkey. Unfor-
tion building. "pockets of excellence"; but we are tunately, a lot of these companies
not geared towards excellence. The are drowning under bank debt, need
Q: What would you say are the com- whole system is outdated, and has fresh capital to pull them up. The op-
parative advantages for Greece? become a heavily politicised system portunities are there. There are also
Greece has had a system of produc- that does not allow universities to some very interesting pharmaceuti-
tion and consumption which was not excel. In other words, there is still cal companies doing innovative work
sustainable. It does not mean that a lot to do. and filing patents that are new. There
Greece has nothing to sell or that we are opportunities, as long as some-
do not have any comparative advan- Q: Are you an optimist in the long body wants to come in and have a
tages. Take two often-used examples: run? look, and have some stamina.
tourism and shipping. These can help I have to be optimistic. If you look at
the country tremendously because the history of the country, we have Leaving George Papaconstantinou
you can add things to them. Tour- had long cycles of destruction and to his other engagements, we only
ism is not only tourism; it's also cul- then revival, renewal through the de- hope that others will have a chance to
ture, food... So it's a whole industry struction. If you look at the history cross his path. He is a good and hon-
around it. But beside these, there are of Greece over the last 100 years, you est man, who deserves much better
also a lot of new ventures, such as in will see a lot 9 f these episodes where than being the scapegoat for a situa-
technology that have been set up by you think that the country is really tion he never created. So, we here in
Greeks who studied abroad, came not going to make it, and it does. We Diva, wish him and his family lots of
home and who set up companies: or have just had an episode like that success and happiness in their new
in pharmaceuticals, in biotech and leading up to the Olympic Games ventures.
in logistics. There are a lot of niches when we managed to get our act to-

24 DIVA - INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT