At the Greece-Turkey Business Forum in Istanbul, Sofia Kounenaki-Efraimoglou, Vice President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), emphasized that entrepreneurship can foster peace and stability. The event featured notable attendees, including Tassos Hatzivassiliou, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs responsible for Economic Diplomacy and Extroversion, and Turkey’s Ambassador Mehmet Kemal Bozay, who also addressed the audience.
“We are here in Istanbul, working in conjunction with the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, with which we share a long history of partnership. Last year’s mission and the B2B meetings established a foundation to boost bilateral trade and investment, and today we can see the positive outcomes,” she commented following the Forum, just before the entrepreneurial B2B meetings commenced.
“Young People Can Forge Joint Ventures”
Kounenaki-Efraimoglou highlighted the collaboration between Greece and Turkey in new technologies: “The ‘Greece-Turkey Hackathon 2024-2025’ was a tremendous success, organized in partnership with ‘Bilisim Vadisi’ and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Industry and Technology from both nations. We witnessed young entrepreneurs from both countries collaborating to create joint ventures and projects for mutual benefit, and we aim to build on this success.”
She also mentioned the Greek delegation’s discussions in Istanbul regarding the startup ecosystems in both countries: “Yesterday, we met at ‘BTM’, a major incubator supported by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, similar to our own ‘THEA’ at ACCI. We talked about cooperation, collaborative initiatives, and joint investment projects for the startups in both countries.”
In her remarks, she stated that her presence in Istanbul served as a mission to unite Greek and Turkish companies from dynamic sectors such as IT, transportation, telecommunications, energy, construction, and food. This effort aligns with the long-term vision of the Greek-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry to strengthen economic relations through dialogue, collaboration, and investment.
“Our Economies Are More Complementary”
She noted that Turkey boasts a robust industrial base, a strategic geographical location, a vast internal market, and a flourishing tech and innovation landscape. Conversely, she highlighted Greece’s significant recovery, positioning as a stability hub in the Eastern Mediterranean, and attractiveness as a destination for investment, green growth, digital transformation, and innovation. “Our economies complement each other more than they compete, and that’s precisely what we aim to showcase,” she asserted.
“In February 2024, during a significant business mission to Istanbul, the chambers of commerce from both countries will formalize their cooperation by signing a memorandum of understanding to enhance bilateral economic ties through structured collaboration, including information exchange, joint participation in business forums, and facilitating partnerships between Greek and Turkish businesses.”
