Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis highlighted Greece's digital transformation during a meeting on Monday with Iliana Ivanova, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. He emphasized that Greece will soon complete its strategy for Artificial Intelligence, which will be presented to him in the coming weeks.

Commissioner Ivanova, for her part, emphasized that competitiveness will be the main priority for the EU in the coming years.

In his statements, the prime minister said that the governments he has led in the last five years have worked hard to "bridge the innovation gap" inherited in 2019. "I believe we have taken important steps in the right direction, such as digital transformation related to the connection between citizens, businesses and the state", he said.

He noted that the gov.gr website had been "truly transformative from this point of view", focusing on improving the quality of the digital infrastructure and creating a "very vibrant ecosystem for new businesses and new companies in the sector of technology", which to some extent also succeeded in bringing back some of the many talented Greeks who had left Greece during the crisis.

"The next step now, of course, is that we will very soon finalize our AI strategy, which will be presented to me in the coming weeks, because we also want to see how Greece can be positioned in this emerging AI ecosystem, where I believe we still have something important to contribute", added Mitsotakis.

"Our portfolio is, of course, very broad. We have a new team that is responsible for research and innovation. I am very interested in hearing your views on how we can further improve the cooperation between the European Union and Greece", concluded the Prime Minister .

In her response, Commissioner Ivanova said she was very happy to be in Athens for the launch events of the Trusted Investor Network and the improved Council of the European Innovation Club, describing them as two "important milestones in promoting the ecosystem European innovation... which is a central priority on the agenda of the next European Commission".

"As you know, competitiveness is the number one priority and what better way to promote this than research and innovation," added Ivanova.

She reported having a "fantastic discussion" earlier on Monday with officials and a number of investors who are innovation leaders, Greek companies that have benefited from the European Innovation Council and served as examples of how to address the 'innovation gap'.

"I really want to encourage Greek companies, pioneers in innovation, researchers, to actively participate in the available programs of the European Union, because this is the reason for their existence; to really cultivate this innovative, entrepreneurial spirit, which we want to preserve and keep in Europe", she said./ANA-MPA