INTERVIEW: Relationship between Greece and Saudi Arabia ‘more than excellent,’ says Greek Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis

1 Adonis Georgiadis on MOU's to be signed
0 seconds of 47 secondsVolume 90%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
Next Up
2 Adonis Georgiadis on NEOM
00:49
00:00
00:47
00:47
 
Short Url
Updated 27 July 2022
Follow

INTERVIEW: Relationship between Greece and Saudi Arabia ‘more than excellent,’ says Greek Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis

  • Georgiadis describes visit by Saudi crown prince as a great honor that will enhance an already “excellent” bilateral relationship
  • He is confident Greek companies and investors will come to play a prominent role in the development of NEOM smart city

RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit is a great honor for Greece that will enhance an already “excellent” bilateral relationship, the Greek minister for development and investments, Adonis Georgiadis, told Arab News.

“We are deeply honored that HRH Mohammed bin Salman decided to visit Greece as his first trip to an EU country since 2018,” he said ahead of the crown prince’s arrival in Athens on Tuesday.

The visit is intended to build on the already strong ties between the two countries, which cover politics, the economy, commerce, investment, defense, security, culture and tourism.

“This (visit) is very important to Greece and very important to our relationship because we honor and admire his leadership, his vision for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the way the Kingdom is progressing to the new era of humanity in renewable energy, and new technology,” said Georgiadis.

“I really believe that his highness is a strong leader, and his decision to be here, I have to say again, is very, very important to us. The level of the relationship between Greece and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is more than excellent. And what we want to achieve is that the high level of our relationship in the defense area and politics, in general, will be (emulated) on the economic side.”

Speaking to Arab News by Zoom from Athens, Georgiadis said he was confident that Greek companies and investors would come to play a prominent role in the development of NEOM — Saudi Arabia’s new smart city taking shape on the Red Sea coast and one of several giga-projects launched as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 social reform and economic diversification agenda.

“It is not only a project about economic growth. This is a project about the new era of humankind on planet Earth, with sustainable growth, with respect for the environment, and the use of high technology to improve human standard of living and wellbeing,” Georgiadis said.

“So, I’m sure that a lot of Greek companies would be interested to participate in this huge NEOM project and to be a part of this.”

Underscoring the increasingly close diplomatic, security, and business ties enjoyed by both nations, Georgiadis confirmed that several new memorandums of understanding would be signed by the crown prince and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at a special ceremony at the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

Opened to the public in 2009, the world-famous archaeological museum houses Bronze Age, Roman, and Byzantine artifacts discovered at the site of the Acropolis, which is the nation’s most prized antiquity and national monument.

Hosting the signing ceremony at this venue will be symbolic.

“This has never happened before,” Georgiadis told Arab News. “We have never signed an MoU with any other country in the world in the Acropolis Museum. And this is just a (message) from our prime minister to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to show how we feel that you are something very exceptional to us.”

Georgiadis will sign MoUs on investment and commerce. “We will also have one in the defense area, the high technology area, and the maritime sector. And then, of course, a very important MoU for culture and cultural exchange. (We) Will have a very nice ceremony in our Acropolis.”

In 2020, Greek exports to Saudi Arabia were valued at $339.04 million, while its imports from the Kingdom stood at $620.57 million, according to the UN Comtrade database on international trade.

To boost bilateral investments, the Council of Saudi Chambers signed an MoU last September to establish the Saudi-Greek Business Council.

“I’m more than happy that the Saudi-Greek Business Council has been established,” said Georgiadis. "I am very honored that there are two very important persons from Greece and the Kingdom, the leaders of this organization, from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mrs. Lubna Olayan.”

Together with Greek entrepreneur and investor Achilleas Konstantakopoulos, Al-Olayan is the co-president of the Saudi-Greek Business Council.

Georgiadis added: “The Olayan family is a real friend of our country. They have been investing in Greece since the 1970s. They stayed with Greece in all our difficult times. We recognize this family, real friends, and very important investors. And I’m proud and honored that they have met and worked together with me.

“I think the reality that such important persons decided to be the leaders of the organization shows the level of the commitment and the ambition we have in following all these projects and establishing a real friendship and cooperation between our two great countries.”

Georgiadis said he was confident there would be many more deals and partnerships announced soon, “from renewable energy to agriculture and food security and high technology,” and that there was “very high potential in the tourist industry and shipping.”

Last December, the two nations signed a cooperation agreement on maritime transport to develop commercial maritime navigation, increase the traffic of commercial ships, and encourage trade.

In March, Saudi Arabia and Greece signed an MoU paving the way for innovations in renewable energy, including green and blue hydrogen, and the development of a fiber-optic cable network that will connect data from Southeast Asia to central Europe.

“The cable, where they get the connection, Greece, and Europe with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through Egypt, is a very important project,” said Georgiadis.

“You see, both Greece and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia share a unique location for their region — Greece as the entry point of the EU and based in the Mediterranean and Saudi Arabia as the best location that can unite the Arab world and the Middle East with the Far East and Asia.

“So, it’s very natural that this, both as good locations, by the use of high technology, will be able to unite their forces for the good of humankind and for world economy and their own brand.”

The Saudi-Greek Investment Forum, held in the Kingdom on March 13, showcased investment opportunities in both countries and resulted in hundreds of bilateral business meetings.

Georgiadis said he had high expectations for the Saudi-Greek relationship in the wake of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit and expected many more trade agreements to follow.

“When we were last in Riyadh, there were more than 200 B2B meetings between private companies from Greece with Saudi Arabia companies. They were followed by (another) lot in Athens,” he said.

“So, you know, the results (of those) are going to come out in 24 hours.”

Druze: the great survivors
How the world's most secretive faithhas endured for a thousand years

Enter


keywords

 


Text messaging scammers stole $2M in cryptocurrency from victims, says NY lawsuit

Updated 13 sec ago
Follow

Text messaging scammers stole $2M in cryptocurrency from victims, says NY lawsuit

  • Scammers used unsolicited text messages to target people looking for remote work
  • Victims were told to review products online in order to help generate “market data”

NEW YORK: Scammers stole millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from people seeking remote work opportunities as part of an elaborate scheme, according to New York’s attorney general.
Attorney General Letitia James said Thursday that she’s filed a lawsuit in order to recover more than $2 million that she said was stolen from New Yorkers and others around the country.
James said the unknown network of scammers used unsolicited text messages to target people looking for remote work.
They told victims that the job involved reviewing products online in order to help generate “market data,” James’ office said. But in order to begin earning money, victims were told they had to open cryptocurrency accounts and had to maintain a balance equal to, or greater than, the price of the products they were reviewing.
The victims were assured they would get their investments back plus commission, but the funds simply went into the scammers’ crypto wallets, James’ office said. The product reviews were also conducted on a website set up as part of the scheme.
The suit cites seven victims, identified by pseudonyms, residing in New York, Virginia and Florida. One New York victim lost over $100,000, according to the suit. A Florida woman lost over $300,000.
“Deceiving New Yorkers looking to take on remote work and earn money to support their families is cruel and unacceptable,” she said in a statement. “Scammers sent text messages to New Yorkers promising them good-paying, flexible jobs only to trick them into purchasing cryptocurrency and then stealing it from them.”
James’ suit seeks to return the stolen funds.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said her office’s cryptocurrency unit traced over $2 million in stolen crypto and identified the digital wallets where the coins were being held. Then, working with James’ office, they were able to have the currency frozen until they could be returned to victims.
“Work scams that prey on those seeking legitimate employment not only rob victims of their hard-earned money but also shatter their trust in the job market,” she added.


UK finance minister seeks ‘pragmatic’ relations with China to boost trade

Updated 18 min 46 sec ago
Follow

UK finance minister seeks ‘pragmatic’ relations with China to boost trade

  • Rachel Reeves is seeking to revive high-level economic and financial talks that have been frozen since 2019
  • China is Britain’s fourth-largest trading partner, accounting for goods and services trade worth almost $138 billion

BEIJING: British finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Saturday during a visit to Beijing that she intended to have “pragmatic” relations with Chinese leaders to boost exports to the world’s second-largest economy.
Under pressure from market turmoil at home, Reeves is seeking to revive high-level economic and financial talks that have been frozen since 2019.
She joins the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue meeting in Beijing with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Saturday, before traveling to Shanghai, accompanied by Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and other finance leaders.
She is due to discuss financial services, trading ties and the importance of cooperation on issues like climate change, the Treasury said.
Her appearance offers a chance to persuade investors that she has plans to deal with a sharp increase in British government borrowing costs, due in part to a global bond selloff which threatens to derail her budget plans.
“The fiscal rules that I set out in my budget in October are non-negotiable and growth is the number one mission of this government to make our country better off,” Reeves told reporters after visiting a Brompton bicycles shop in Beijing.
“That’s why I’m in China to unlock tangible benefits for British businesses exporting and trading around the world to ensure that we have greater access to the second-largest economy in the world.”
Reeves’ visit follows a dialogue opened last year between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Xi Jinping, the first between the two countries’ leaders since 2018.
The approach taken by the Labour government, elected in July, contrasts with the previous Conservative administration which took a robust approach to differences with China — particularly over human rights, Hong Kong and allegations of Chinese espionage.
Asked on Thursday if Reeves would raise human-rights issues, Starmer’s spokesperson said her visit would fit with London’s stance that it would take a strategic approach to China and challenge it “robustly” when necessary.
Starmer has long described his desire to build a relationship with China that is “rooted in the UK’s national interests” by boosting trade, a task that may become more difficult if US President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his threat to impose tariffs on all imports.
Asked whether Britain would follow Washington and Brussels in imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, Reeves said: “We keep issues under review but we make decisions in our national interest.”
British car manufacturers “like Jaguar and Land Rover export substantially to Chinese markets, and we want to help them to grow.”
China is Britain’s fourth-largest trading partner, accounting for goods and services trade worth almost 113 billion pounds ($138 billion).

 

 


2024 was the hottest year on record, scientists say

Updated 11 January 2025
Follow

2024 was the hottest year on record, scientists say

  • C3S confirms first year above 1.5C since pre-industrial times
  • Climate change impacts, severe weather visible globally
  • Political will to curb emissions wanes despite rising climate disasters

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Global temperatures in 2024 exceeded 1.5 Celsius above the pre-industrial era for the first time, bringing the world closer to breaching the pledge governments made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, scientists said on Friday.
The World Meteorological Organization confirmed the 1.5C breach, after reviewing data from US, UK, Japan and EU scientists.
“Global heating is a cold, hard fact,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. “There’s still time to avoid the worst of climate catastrophe. But leaders must act – now.”
The bleak assessment came as wildfires charged by fierce winds swept through Los Angeles, with 10 people dead and nearly 10,000 structures destroyed so far. Wildfires are among the many disasters that climate change is making more frequent and severe.

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said climate change was pushing the planet’s temperature to levels never before experienced by modern humans. Scientists have linked climate change to greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels.
The planet’s average temperature in 2024 was 1.6 degrees Celsius higher than in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, C3S said. The last 10 years are the 10 hottest years on record, the WMO said.

Climate change is worsening storms and torrential rainfall, because a hotter atmosphere can hold more water, leading to intense downpours. Atmospheric water vapor reached a record high in 2024, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it was the third-wettest year on record.
 

In 2024, Bolivia and Venezuela suffered disastrous fires, while torrential floods hit Nepal, Sudan and Spain, and heat waves in Mexico and Saudi Arabia killed thousands. While climate change now affects people from the richest to the poorest on Earth, political will to address it has waned in some countries.
Governments promised under the 2015 Paris Agreement to try to prevent the average global temperature rise from exceeding 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has called climate change a hoax, dismissing the global scientific consensus. During his first term in office he withdrew Washington from the Paris Agreement, and he has vowed to push greater fossil fuel production and roll back President Joe Biden’s push toward alternative energy.
Recent European elections have shifted political priorities toward industrial competitiveness, with some European Union governments seeking to weaken climate policies they say hurt business.
Matthew Jones, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia in Britain, said climate-linked disasters will grow more common “so long as progress on tackling the root causes of climate change remains sluggish.”
EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said the 1.5C breach last year showed climate action must be prioritized.
“It is extremely complicated, in a very difficult geopolitical setting, but we don’t have an alternative,” he told Reuters.

The 1.5C milestone should serve as “a rude awakening to key political actors to get their act together,” said Chukwumerije Okereke, a professor of climate governance at Britain’s University of Bristol.
Britain’s Met Office confirmed 2024’s likely breach of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, while estimating a slightly lower average temperature of 1.53C for the year.
Buontempo noted that 2024 did not breach that target since it measures the longer-term average temperature, but added that rising greenhouse gas emissions put the world on track to blow past the Paris goal soon.
Countries could still rapidly cut emissions to avoid temperatures from rising further to disastrous levels, he added.
“It’s not a done deal. We have the power to change the trajectory,” Buontempo said.
Concentrations in the atmosphere of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, reached a fresh high of 422 parts per million in 2024, C3S said.
Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at US non-profit Berkeley Earth, said he expected 2025 to be among the hottest years on record, but likely not top the rankings. He noted that temperatures in early 2024 got an extra boost from El Niño, a warming weather pattern now trending toward its cooler La Nina counterpart.
“It’s still going to be in the top three warmest years,” he said.


Greenland’s leader says his people don’t want to be Americans as Trump covets territory

Updated 11 January 2025
Follow

Greenland’s leader says his people don’t want to be Americans as Trump covets territory

  • “We do not want to be Danish, we do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic,” Múte B. Egede tells press conference
  • He added, though, that he understands Trump’s interest in the island given its strategic location and he’s open to a dialogue with the US

COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Greenland’s prime minister said Friday that the mineral-rich Arctic territory’s people don’t want to be Americans, but that he understands US President-elect Donald Trump’s interest in the island given its strategic location and he’s open to greater cooperation with Washington.
The comments from the Greenlandic leader, Múte B. Egede, came after Trump said earlier this week that he wouldn’t rule out using force or economic pressure in order to make Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of Denmark — a part of the United States. Trump said that it was a matter of national security for the US.
Egede acknowledged that Greenland is part of the North American continent, and “a place that the Americans see as part of their world.” He said he hasn’t spoken to Trump, but that he’s open to discussions about what “unites us.”
“Cooperation is about dialogue. Cooperation means that you will work toward solutions,” he said.
Egede has been calling for independence for Greenland, casting Denmark as a colonial power that hasn’t always treated the Indigenous Inuit population well.
“Greenland is for the Greenlandic people. We do not want to be Danish, we do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic,” he said at a news conference alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen.

A view of Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base) in Greenland, October 4, 2023. (Ritzau Scanpix/Thomas Traasdahl via REUTERS)

Trump’s desire for Greenland has sparked anxiety in Denmark as well as across Europe. The United States is a strong ally of 27-nation European Union and the leading member of the NATO alliance, and many Europeans were shocked by the suggestion that an incoming US leader could even consider using force against an ally.

But Frederiksen said that she sees a positive aspect in the discussion.
“The debate on Greenlandic independence and the latest announcements from the US show us the large interest in Greenland,” she said. “Events which set in motion a lot of thoughts and feelings with many in Greenland and Denmark.”
“The US is our closest ally, and we will do everything to continue a strong cooperation,” she said.
Frederiksen and Egede spoke to journalists after a biannual assembly of Denmark and two territories of its kingdom, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The meeting had been previously scheduled and wasn’t called in response to Trump’s recent remarks. Trump’s eldest son also made a visit to Greenland on Tuesday, landing in a plane emblazoned with the word TRUMP and handing out Make America Great Again caps to locals.

A view of Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base) in Greenland, October 4, 2023. (Ritzau Scanpix/Thomas Traasdahl via REUTERS)

The Danish public broadcaster, DR, reported Friday that Trump’s team encouraged homeless and socially disadvantaged people in Greenland to appear in a video wearing the MAGA hats after being offered a free meal in a nice restaurant. The report quoted a local resident, Tom Amtof, who recognized some of those in a video broadcast by Trump’s team.
“They are being bribed, and it is deeply distasteful,” he said.
Greenland has a population of 57,000. But it’s a vast territory possessing natural resources that include oil, gas, and rare earth elements, which are expected to become more accessible as ice melts because of climate change. It also has a key strategic location in the Arctic, where Russia, China and others are seeking to expand their footprint.
Greenland, the world’s largest island, lies closer to the North American mainland than to Denmark. While Copenhagen is responsible for its foreign affairs and defense, the US also shares responsibility for Greenland’s defense and operates an air force base there based on a 1951 treaty.


Guinea suspends ‘unauthorized’ political movements

Gen. Mamady Doumbouya. (Supplied)
Updated 11 January 2025
Follow

Guinea suspends ‘unauthorized’ political movements

  • Government spokesman Ousmane Gaoual Diallo said earlier that the West African nation could hold elections by the end of 2025 after a constitutional referendum “probably in May”

CONAKRY: Guinea’s government has demanded the suspension of all political movements it deemed “without authorization,” as the country’s military leaders hinted at possible elections this year.
In a statement read by a presenter on state television, the minister for territorial administration and decentralization, Ibrahima Kalil Conde, “noted with regret the proliferation of political movements without prior administrative authorization.”
“Consequently, all these political movements are asked to cease their activities immediately and to submit an application for administrative authorization to our ministry for their legal existence,” the statement added.
The junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup, has, in recent days, hinted at the possibility of elections by the end of the year.
Under international pressure, the military leaders had initially pledged to hold a constitutional referendum and hand power to elected civilians by the end of 2024 — but neither has happened.
Junta chief Gen. Mamady Doumbouya said in a New Year’s speech that 2025 will be “a crucial electoral year to complete the return to constitutional order.”
Government spokesman Ousmane Gaoual Diallo said earlier that the West African nation could hold elections by the end of 2025 after a constitutional referendum “probably in May.”
Since taking power, the junta has cracked down on dissent, with many opposition leaders detained, brought before the courts, or forced into exile.
In October, the junta placed the three main political parties under observation and dissolved 53 others in what it termed a major political “cleanup.”
It suspended another 54 for three months.
In Thursday’s statement, Conde said that national and international institutions and partners should “cease all collaboration with the 54 suspended political parties until 31 January 2025.”