JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia is playing a key role in the economic recovery of Greece and authorities in Athens are quite hopeful of a great future, the Greek consul general said on Tuesday. Speaking during the Greek national day celebrations, Chronis Polychroniou said the Mideast region and the Arabian Peninsula are part of a wider neighborhood of his country. "Since antiquity the Greeks preserve historical and cultural ties with the Arab nations. We see the people here not just as friends, but as brothers,” Polychroniou said in his speech. Greece, he said, prioritizes the Middle East in its foreign policy. The Mediterranean country's effort to upgrade relations with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is one example, as are the meetings of the Council of Arab-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, which was established over 30 years ago. In December, the Greek Consulate in Jeddah received a large Greek business delegation. In May, another meeting is scheduled during the international exhibition in Riyadh. The Greek-Saudi cooperation currently focuses on developing tourism between the two countries. “The recent visit of the Greek minister of tourism to Riyadh showed that the two countries enjoy dynamics for further development of cooperation in exchanging know-how and experiences in training, education and tourism,” Polychroniou remarked. During her visit last month, the Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni signed an agreement with Prince Sultan Bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, to promote tourism. Greece attracted 18 million tourists last year and is hoping to increase the number in 2014 by concentrating on luxury travelers from the Gulf. “We have a lot of beautiful hotels, five and six stars,” the consul general said, noting that one of the hotels on the Costa Navarino in the South Peloponnese had been chosen among the “Best Overseas Holiday Hotels: Europe, Turkey and Russia” at the annual Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Travel Awards last year. A major obstacle to increasing tourism from the Kingdom to his country, Polychroniou continued, is the lack of a direct flight. “Just now, I was speaking with one of the Saudis here and he told me that a [private European airlines would launch] a direct flight from next June,” he said, referring to the charter airline Hermes Airlines, headquartered in Greece and a subsidiary of the French Air Méditerranée. The importance of tourism for the country's recovery can hardly be underestimated. Earlier this year, figures from the Bank of Greece showed it had posted its first current account surplus in 2013 since official data began in 1948; record spending by tourists was the country's biggest earner. “For us, what is important is to attract business in Greece,” the consul general explained, referring to foreign direct investment. He said his country would announce in the coming weeks that it has overcome the crisis. This may be somewhat optimistic, as the country still carries the burden of the $324 billion bailout loans and unemployment rates keep rising, hitting a record high of nearly 28 percent in October last year, with youth unemployment up to 59 percent, according to Eurostat.
