This is the chance for Greece to promote its most important interests: debt restructuring and investment. The United Nations General Assembly turned into an arena full of opportunities for fruitful contacts so that the debt-ridden country can boost its two noble causes. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras did not leave any given opportunity unused to try to find allies for the debt restructuring and to attract investors. for one more time, US President Barack Obama proved to be the main supporter for Greece. The two leaders may had no formal face-to-face meeting but a couple of informal chats that confirmed the approach and the good chemistry between the two.
According to Greek media, President Obama reiterated Washington’s commitment to keeping Greece in the eurozone and the two leaders discussed Europe’s refugee crisis and the Cyprus problem.
Obama to Tsipras: “Good job!” – During a dinner reception hosted by Ban Ki Moon, Barack Obama took the initiative to approach Tsipras who was sitting at a different table, give him a friendly hit on the back and give him credit for his new victory in the parliamentary elections.
The leaders and their wives. Obama to Michelle: “Here is the man who won took consecutive elections!” – at a reception hosted by US President Obama.
Together with Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, Alexis Tsipras will hold a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Tsipras did not miss the chance to praise the USA for its support to Greece especially in the debt restructure issue.
“I must admit that we had an open communication and cooperation with the US government, where we found more listening ears than in Brussels, when it comes to the necessity of a just settlement of the crisis and the restructuring of the unsustainable debt ” Tsipras told diaspora Greece at a reception in New York.
In interviews with major US media, like the Wall Street Journal, Tsipras reiterated the “debt cause” and said that Greece could return to bond markets soon, if it reached a debt-restructuring deal with creditors in the coming months.
“The goal is to return to the markets,” the Greek Prime Minister told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. “If there is a good decision on the debt issue, Greece could return to markets shortly after debt restructuring.”
He added that the country was expected to return to growth in the second half of 2016 but he warned that Europe’s migration crisis could harm Greece’s fragile economy—particularly its all-important tourism industry.
“Our goal is to agree with our (European) partners that if the situation deteriorates, the funds that Greece will spend will be excluded from the calculation of the deficit,” Tsipras added.
The Refugees crisis but also the Cyprus problem and the FYROM name issue were top on the agenda of the talks the Greek Prime Minister had with UN General Secretary Ban Ki-μoon.
At the margin of the UN Assembly, PM Tsipras had also meetings with the OECD general secretary, the Royal couple of the Netherlands, the presidents of China and Brazil, also with Cuba’s Raoul Castro who invited him in Havana. Israeli PM Netanyahu also invited Tsipras to Israel.
At the beginning of his visit to New York, Alexis Tsipras participated at an event organized by the Bill Clinton Global Initiative. The Greek PM told the former US-president that his government will conduct the necessary reforms to make Greece more attractive to investors.
“After the result of the elections last Sunday, it’s very clear that the mandate of the Greek people was to have political stability for the next four years and not to continue in the same direction but to fight for the necessary reforms internally,” Tsipras said during a 30-minute discussion between the two men in front of an audience.
“It is necessary to make reforms in taxation, in the public administration and to create a friendly environment for investments,” the Greek PM stressed.
It was not the first time the two men “met”. Back in Νovember 1999, when US President Bill Clinton was visiting Athens, young Alexis was among the demonstrators protesting the visit of the “American Imperialism” – as said by the Left- for the “bloodshed in the Balkans”, that is in Yugoslavia.
At that time 25-year-old Tsipras was secretary of the Alliance of the Left (Synaspismos), youth section. Together with a representative of the Communist party youth (KNE), Tsipras had a press conference in which he sharply criticized the massive suppression of the anti-Clinton protests by the Greek police.
PS As Bob Dylan used to say: The Times They Are a-Changin. Bill Clinton is no more President representing the American Imperialism, the state of Yugoslavia does not exist anymore in its 1999-form and Alexis Tsipras is a 41-year-old Prime Minister of a ‘radical-left party that is slowly leaning to the center-left.
No wonder American politicians are supporting debt restructuring for Greece. On geopolitical level, it helps keep Greece anchored in the West. Given the spillover of the turmoil in the Middle East, soured relations with Russia and a rising China, it is a positive. On political level, it helps on balance gain votes from the Greek-American community, while the rest of the voters do not care enough about the issue to shift their votes one way or another. The last but not the least, it does not cost the U.S. government anything, since only European taxpayers are on the hook. (I assume, of course, IMF loans are not under consideration for restructuring).
Slowly leaning toward the centre-left? It’s NEA PASOK on a fast track to centre-right….wait until they start administering the bailout :((
center-right? certainly not. it’s the new European social-democracy…. tsipras, corbyn schulz (lol for the ep president)
Investors? Instead of group-sex with celebrities Tsipraki should ask the next running reds NYC-bike-messenger that is coming round the corner if a messenger-industry plus wooden-framed wind-mills and wind-turbines on all ships would create 300.000 jobs in Greece. The answer would be “Nope bro, 500.000 minimum”
oh no
Alone the wind-mills supported by a law that all electricity must be created this way would bring 300.000 as this means also to have sustainable forestry and as a bonus many new ideas in agriculture, because it costs nothing to get the water out of the deep earth, even on islands without sweet-water things get possible through desalination.
But as this would lead direction to power free of charge and a society without money no one is interested in this kind of real investment.