29/03/2006

Central Macedonia was named "Southern European Region of the Future for 2006-2007", at a competition organized by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) magazine of the "Financial Times" group, with the purpose of introducing European cities and prefectures presenting high investment prospects.

The Central Macedonia prefecture was nominated as a candidate for the award by the Hellenic Centre for Investment, which is the competent body in charge of the Greek participation in the specific competition. The candidate evaluation criteria included, among others, the economic potential, human resources, workforce education level, the strategy for promoting foreign direct investments, telecommunication and transport infrastructure, and access to new technologies.

During the prize-awarding ceremony in Cannes, Giorgos Tsiopras, the General Secretary of the Central Macedonia Region, underlined that this international distinction constitutes an acknowledgement of the efforts made to create a safe investment environment in the area, to attract investments and the systematic effort necessary to strengthen the technology, research, innovation and development sectors. Also, Central Macedonia is being presented as a centre of investments, a transit for commerce, a gate to the Balkans and South-East Europe, as well as a regional commercial and financial centre of the European Union.

Yiannis Anastasopoulos, the chairman of the Hellenic Centre for Investment, stressed that Central Macedonia is dynamically participating in the GDP, is creating a significant volume of agricultural and industrial production and is the country?s main base of export.

The recognition is published in the April/May 2006 issue of the FDI magazine.

Source: Central Macedonia prefecture