Hellenic-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry General Director Martin Knapp on Tuesday referred to Greece’s postwar history of repeated lost opportunities, as he said, while nevertheless underlining that the "good news is that opportunities are still coming to the country and need to be seized right now”.

In an interview with ANA-MPA, in view of the important EU decisions later this month, Knapp underlined the European dimension of the "Greek problem", stressing that “all European countries are tightly crammed together on the same boat”, adding that safeguarding the euro is a “one-way street” and common policies are necessary.

He also underlined that Europe is being threatened, that it was caught unprepared for the changes in the new global labour distribution and that competitiveness is the only viable response.

Referring to Greece, he said it mainly needs liquidity that will have to be provided by European mechanisms.
Knapp stressed that the country can utilise the opportunities offered by “quality tourism” or by “hi-tech made in Greece”, stressing that it can produce almost anything.

Referring to bilateral commerce, he said the overall trade volume in the first nine months of 2010 was at 6 billion euros; with the trade deficit for Greece being at a ratio of 1 to 4.

Commenting on the farm exports, he stated that they do not meet high standards, underlining that even the olive oil production has not been utilised as much as it could have despite the intensive campaign for its promotion in which he personally participated