The signing of a memorandum of understanding, proceeded to the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EBEA) and the Hellenic Development Bank - HDB. The subject is the design, development and planning of synergies between the two institutions, in the context of actions to encourage and develop startup entrepreneurship through innovation and extroversion.

More specifically, the two agencies agreed to investigate collusions between them to:

• the support of innovative entrepreneurship
• strengthening the export capacity of Greek companies

through:

• knowledge exchange
• of co-organization of educational seminars and
• mutual participation in networking and mentoring activities

Yiannis Bratakos, president of EBEA: for the development of startup entrepreneurship

During his greeting, the president of EBEA, Mr. Yiannis Bratakos, underlined the importance of the cooperation between the two vital institutions for entrepreneurship, but also the multiple benefits of their practical alliance, for the creation of a new environment of business prosperity. "Each one of our institutions utilizes the resources available to them. And is constantly looking for ways to expand his offer. Seeking to serve, strengthen and thrive entrepreneurship. With actions that encourage initiative. They promote synergy. And they facilitate access to the most important tool for business empowerment: financing. When two such development agencies come together, the benefits are rich. And with this exact expectation, we commit today to serve, together, our common goals", said Mr. Bratakos

Athina Hadjipetrou, president and CEO of HDB

For her part, the president and CEO of the Hellenic Development Bank – HDB, Ms. Athina Hatzipetrou pointed out the sealing of the cooperation of the two bodies with the common goal of further support and encouragement in practice and in addition to the Greek entrepreneurship which has been affected in recent years and which constitutes the "backbone" of the national economy.

"The Memorandum of Cooperation symbolizes the joint efforts of both parties to improve and above all to protect the Greek business. The essence of today's signature is none other than the extroversion of businesses and the increase of the added value of Greek products and services", emphasized Mrs. Hatzipetrou and added that "we will act together by exploiting our competitive advantages and we will undertake further initiatives to meet the real needs of the Greek market".

The cooperation memorandum was signed in the presence of the Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, Mr. Ioannis Tsakiris. The event was also attended by the general secretary of EBEA, Mr. Babis Moraitis, the president of the Hellenic Development Investment Bank (EATE, t.TANEO) and member of the Board of EBEA, Mr. Haris Lambropoulos and the vice-president of the Hellenic Development Bank-HDB, Mr. Pantelis Tjortzakis.