OPINION — In a world the place world energy is now not solely fought over by use of army would possibly however received by wit, diplomacy, and innovation, Greece is recasting its story. Main that transformation, not less than in Financial Diplomacy, is Greece’s new Deputy Overseas Minister Harry Theoharis, a person who envisions a brand new Greece: one which equates protection modernization with financial diplomacy to place the nation as a severe regional participant within the Jap Mediterranean and past.
In his first public remarks when he took the position in late June, Theoharis was clear: Financial diplomacy is now not only a query of endorsing commerce missions or signing memos. The first purpose is to make use of it as a strategic multiplier—to synergize Greece’s enhanced protection capabilities, its creating innovation financial system, and its world partnerships right into a single related, cohesive, forward-looking overseas coverage message.
Prior to now, protection and diplomacy have run parallel programs in Greece. With this new Deputy Overseas Minister on the helm, these programs have begun to cross over. Greece’s will quickly come to see that multi-billion-euro investments (determined from 2020 to at present) in protection modernization—new Rafale fighter planes, Belharra-class frigates, air protection missiles, and superior weapons techniques—may serve a twin objective: bolstering nationwide safety whereas offering worldwide partnerships and market alternatives.
Deputy Overseas Minister Theoharis has deliberately linked protection procurement with export promotion and industrial cooperation. Exhibitions like DEFEA (Protection Exhibition Athens) aren’t simply army exhibitions anymore; they’re statecraft instruments, welcoming generals but in addition buyers, tech startups, and overseas ministers. The message is unambiguous: Greece shouldn’t be solely defending its borders anymore. It sells its capabilities, innovation, and reliability.
Beneath this new method, Greek financial diplomacy additionally goes hi-tech. In collaboration with the Ministry of Protection, Greece’s Hellenic Middle for Protection Innovation (HCDI) has established itself as a magnet for worldwide buyers and R&D facilities. Its work on the promotion of dual-use applied sciences – AI, drones, cyber protection, and safe communications – which have put Greece on the map as a enterprise accomplice in NATO and EU innovation ecosystems.
Initiatives similar to joint symposia with France and rising cooperation with India and Armenia aren’t simply symbolic. They’re pitches for funding. Protection is the icebreaker; financial cooperation is the primary course.
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One of the crucial astute steps Greece has taken is to position itself not merely as a purchaser of protection merchandise, however as a regional hub for coaching, logistics, and schooling.
Kalamata worldwide pilot coaching middle, working in collaboration with Israel, is now of curiosity to a number of different nations. Latest agreements involving cooperation with Armenia, Cape Verde, and Egypt on army schooling, simulation expertise, and logistical help aren’t protection agreements—these are medium- and long-term undertakings that convey collectively state safety with institutional belief and financial interplay.
By linking army coaching programs with financial diplomacy missions, Greece has rewritten its narrative: now not a shopper of safety, however a producer of safety. Now not a minor participant within the area, however a gateway to Europe, the Center East, and Africa.
The important thing to the success of Deputy Overseas Minister Theoharis might be in his capacity to marry imaginative and prescient with operational accuracy. His ministry has launched such devices as myOEY.dwell.gov.gr to hurry up export licensing and investor involvement, opening Greece to overseas companions. Now he should additionally assist to strengthen the Overseas Direct Funding Screening Mechanism to maintain Greece open – however not susceptible – to overseas capital in strategic sectors like vitality, infrastructure, and protection expertise.
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This emphasis on transparency, governance, and digital effectivity shouldn’t be bureaucratic, it is strategic. It is a sign to potential companions and buyers: Greece means enterprise. To succeed, Greece should additional develop and consolidate its operating high-value partnerships:
– With France, by protection innovation and industrial co-development
– With India, by the first-ever Greece–India protection settlement and army workout routines like “Iniochos”
– With Saudi Arabia and Egypt, in areas from air protection to maritime safety, to vitality diplomacy.
– With Armenia, in protection business collaboration and joint coaching initiative.
All these alliances started as a safety dialogue, however in time grew to become broader diplomatic and financial alternatives.
Greece’s trendy historical past has been outlined by disaster: financial, immigration, geopolitical. However now a distinct story is being written: considered one of confidence, competence, and planning and the Hellenic Ministry of Overseas Affairs takes a entrance seat to that. The portfolio of the Deputy Overseas Minister for Financial Diplomacy and Extroversion is paramount to the profitable integration of those areas.
The brand new Deputy Overseas Minister is already displaying {that a} clear, coherent imaginative and prescient can alter how a nation is perceived and the way it operates. Protection is not only weapons anymore; it is alliances. Diplomacy is not only friendliness anymore; it is growth. And financial coverage is not only homegrown anymore; it is worldwide, strategic, and safety oriented.
By bringing collectively the nation’s protection modernization plans (already fifth in NATO for a number of years by way of spending as a share of GDP), innovation potential, and overseas funding technique, Greece can rise as a serious, multidimensional world participant.
Greece should not take a look at overseas coverage, protection, and financial planning in isolation and as an alternative present the world that it doesn’t simply react to the world’s challenges, however provides options and long-standing partnerships. In different phrases, in a world gone mad, Greece proves that it may be an trustworthy mediator amongst state actors and an island of stability for the West.
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