Speech by Chairman Mr. Theodore Fessas at the Annual General Assembly of SEV 2017
Dear President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies & Gentlemen,
You have my warm thanks for being here this evening. A special thanks to dear Prem Watsa, an inspired investor in and supporter and friend of Greece, for honouring us with his presence today.
We are sincerely dismayed that we do not have Konstantinos Mitsotakis with us this year. A political leader who left his mark on our country’s post-war history. Who conscientiously served the vision of a European and liberal Greece. A pragmatist, and yet optimistic to the end, he believed that “Greece can be fixed as easily as it is broken.” We express our deepest condolences to his family and his associates.
Dear Friends,
This year’s SEV General Assembly coincides with the 110th anniversary of the creation of our Federation.
Looking back to 1907, when SEV was created, there are surprising similarities with today.
Because then, too, Greece was in the 9th year of international economic supervision following the bankruptcy of 1893.
Then, too, the Greek political system, above self-criticism, opted for an ambiguous policy toward its foreign lenders, which perpetuated the recession. Then, too, quite a few disaffected citizens turned to irrationalism, and many, many emigrated.
During the same period, however, charismatic and educated Greeks, mainly of the diaspora, followed a different course; a course of vision, knowledge and courage.
Patriarchs of Greek industry, such as: Epaminondas Charilaos, Nikolaos Kanellopoulos, Alexandros Zachariou, Leontios Economidis. All graduates of the University of Zurich, they were the first to see the business opportunities emerging in Greece.
They founded the country’s first major industries in the late 19th century, investing personal capital, taking a risk, but with a sense of patriotism. And in 1907 they played a leading role in creating SEV. These people created new wealth, jobs and a production base that still supports the Greek economy…
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