The government will seek the establishment of an inter-Balkan entity responsible for taking critical initiatives concerning the region with an emphasis on upgrading Greece’s competitiveness in global freight transport/logistics through the development of Global Logistics. In fact, Greece’s intention is to play a leading role in the project, according to Athanasios Ziliaskopoulos, president of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) / president of the Supply Development and Competitiveness Council, stressing that “opportunities exist”, however “planning and coordinated initiatives” are required.
Ziliaskopoulos focused particularly on the administration of the corridor – through the Balkans – from Greece to Europe, noting that there is no organization (General Secretariat of Logistics with an executive role) which monitors the entire corridor that will coordinate policies in cooperation with Serbia and North Macedonia. In fact, the president of HRADF revealed that the issue has been communicated to the government and decisions and coordination are expected from the next government committee. “We have developed a strategy on the part of the National Council for Logistics, which has focused on four major objectives and a large number of actions, which have begun to be implemented with the support of the government committee. The key in our strategy is that we want to take advantage of Greece’s geostrategic position, so that it becomes a hub in global supply chains,” Ziliaskopoulos said. “In this direction, the country has lost a lot of time, which we are now trying to cover.
The World Bank has specified for us the actions that must be taken and the specific strategy that must be followed”, he noted. “Global Logistics must come up to date so that Greece can attract ‘players’ of global supply chains from the areas of the Far East, Africa and India to Central Europe, which do not, at the moment, pass through Greece. Therefore, the World Bank is the most suitable to help us in this,” he added. “Our second goal is efficient national logistics. In this part there is an action that joined the Recovery Fund and is being implemented at the moment, and it aims to relocate the freight forwarders from Eleonas to an organized area in Fyli. The goal is for these businesses to work in the most efficient way.
