#Greece: The Investment Plan for Europe comes to Greece

During his visit, Katainen, who is responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, will meet with investors, small-and medium-sized businesses, and local politicians to present the Investment Plan. He will also present the state-of-play of all three pillars of the Investment Plan at the National Parliament. Finally, Katainen will discuss the Investment Plan and how Greece can benefit from the EFSI with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

The Investment Plan focuses on removing obstacles to investment, providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects and making smarter use of new and existing financial resources.

The Commission will soon launch the new European Investment Project Portal for public and private promoters to advertise their projects to potential investors, a kind of matchmaking service between projects and funds. This is something the private sector asked for. So far Greece has sent in the highest number of projects to the Portal.

Jyrki Katainen said: "I am very pleased that the EIB has approved the first Investment Plan project in Greece. The project puts a strong emphasis on research and innovation - R&D being one of the areas where we see that the Investment Plan makes a real difference. Today I will update the government, MPs, and private sector stakeholders on the progress we have made. Greece can benefit enormously from the European Fund for Strategic Investments. Greek SMEs, via banks and financial intermediaries, as well as strategic sectors where innovation might be needed, like the food and tourism industry, can tap into the investment plan opportunities. The EIB office here in Athens is doing great work in offering technical support to help project promoters and local authorities prepare their project proposals."