[applause] mr. Prime minister, we have a standing roomonly crowd. Theyre also out in the lobby. Weve got were Live Streaming also in the lobby. So i think theres a lot of interest in hearing what you have to say today. So good morning, everyone. Happy new year. Im fred kemp, im president and c. E. O. Of the Atlantic Council. And im delighted you could join us here today. Mr. Prime minister, a warm welcome and thank you for coming to the Atlantic Council. Were delighted youre starting your washington agenda here with us before you meet with the i. M. F. And with President Trump at the white house. Its an honor to host you here at our d. C. Headquarters, after you met with our International Advisory board in september on the sidelines of the u. N. General assembly. The Prime Minister joins us this morning as part of the future Europe Initiatives leadership series. In this series we welcome key european heads of government, heads of states, ministers to discuss Political Developments in their home countries and across europe. Challenges facing the Transatlantic Community and opportunities for deeper engagement. This series advances the core mission of the future Europe Initiative, to promote leadership and strategies that shape and secure a strong Transatlantic Alliance for the future. The Atlantic Council is sometimes considered an american organization. Its really a transatlantic and a Global Organization that brings together friends and allies to shape the global future. Mr. Prime minister in your First Six Months in mr. Prime minister, in your First Six Months in office, and what a six months it has been, youre pushing an ambitious agenda of structural reform to the economy and investors are taking note. And we hope more and more u. S. Investigators will take more and more note. By the end of 2019, greece is greeces borrowing costs had fallen tremendously. Cuts on property taxes and corporate taxes are on the horizon. And unemployment has fallen to 18 , with the influx of capital. This is an incredible turnaround from even five years ago when unemployment was hovering around 25 and the g. D. P. Deficit was at 5 . Greece is a country that spends 2 of its g. D. P. On defense, so the nato standard. It is a key strategic ally of the United States. And you have basketball a strong voice, mr. Have been a strong voice, mr. Prime minister, for nato and european defense, leading by example. In that same vein, your commitment to reforming renewal in the European Union is vital from pushing for eurozone reform with the new commission, to standing behind North Macedonia and albania as they seek to join the European Union. In december, just before the nato leaders meeting in london, you rightly said, and i love quotes that just capture a moment. Quote, we should not forget about eurozone reform simply because were not faced with a crisis. You build a roof when its not raining. I think this is the exact attitude we should carry with us we start this new year, which is already shaping uper to a complicated one up to be a complicated one. We face many challenges ahead. Escalating conflicts and tensions in the middle east, return to great power, competition with china and russia, and the immediate and global threat of Climate Change. And of course the spread of Information Operations and rising authoritarianism targets the weigh way of life weve worked the way of life weve worked so hard to protect. Some of the problems in our past are crises, but some of them have not yet spilled over. You, we have the opportunity to build the roof before the storm, and we know greece will be key in this endeavor. The Atlantic Council itself has invested on greece and in greece. When others were only looking and observing the crisis. We look to the future. Under your leadership, greece establishing itself as a pillar of stability in southEastern Europe, a dedicated e. U. Member state, an esteemed nato member, a key ally of the u. S. Washington and athens now share enduring an enduring common agenda of working together to bolster prosperity and security in southeast europe. Including kickstarting bilateral economic ties and integrating the remainder of the western balkans in the Transatlantic Community. Thats very important. Much of that work has been undertaken by Close Friends of the Atlantic Council, ambassador jeff pyatt, assistant secretary of state, who are both here this morning, and its wonderful to have you with us, gentlemen. Thank you, ambassadors, for your dedication to the u. S. Greek relationship. Its extremely encouraging to see that hard work paying off as it is. To our colleagues at state, the administration and congress, the United States is by your side in this endeavor, mr. Prime minister. President trump last month signed the initiative to facilitate Energy Cooperation among the u. S. , israel, greece and cyprus, and back in october, secretary of state pompeo traveled to athens to update the mutual defense Cooperation Agreement. The Atlantic Council is also a friend here in washington of athens. Our future Europe Initiative, which organized this event, leads the charge by building relations with your government and business leaders, to encourage mutual economic, political, social group and security. In 2019 we sent a high level delegation to the Economic Forum in february, stopping in athens for highlevel meetings with local leaders and decision makers. The director of this initiative and the executive president for programs and strategy have poken at events about greeces vital strategic role in the region and the broader transatlantic relationship. We hosted three of your ministers in november for conversations on the future of greek economic investment, including a minister who has joined the Prime Minister this morning. Mr. Minister, welcome back. We have an excellent counsel team leading our work in greece and both dont knows. We have members from our board of directors from greece and International Advisory board, where they provide valuable thought leadership and support for our work in greece. Even though i dont think theyre here, i want to salute the Board Members and International AdvisoryBoard Members. We also have a standout nonresident senior fellow with the agreement, who is driving our work in d. C. And was instrumental in organizing the event today. So weve got a small village of our own people working on this relationship. Were thrilled to announce today, going beyond that, that through our future Europe Initiative and Global Energy center led by ambassador morningstar, the council will partner with the American Chamber of commerce on an Initiative Monitoring the Energy Developments and political implications of the southern gas corridor in the easted me region. The east med region. A center has signed a letter of intent with the city of athens and an m. O. U. As part of their cooler cities action initiative, working toward one billion resilient people. So were also working with greece on this issue. Mr. Prime minister, youve established your strength of conviction and iron will in a tumultuous six months for the Transatlantic Community and were honored youre here today to share your perspective on the role of europe and the transatlantic partnership. With that, ill turn this over to damon, our executive Vice President , and the Prime Minister for a discussion on the future of the u. S. Greek relationship. Please join me again in giving a very warm welcome to the Prime Minister of greece. [applause] damon Prime Minister, let me echo fred and welcome you. I want to welcome the entire delegation, all the ministers who have joined you, to underscore the breadth of the agenda well discuss in a few minutes. And of course the ambassador who has been such a great partner of ours here in washington. As well as those who have come from the american hole inic chamber of commerce. To all of our guests here and all of those watching live, i want to encourage you to join this conversation on u. S. Greece, a vision for the new decade, by using stronger j within j an lies. Mr. Prime minister, youre here strongerwithallies. Mr. Prime minister, youre here almost exactly six months to the date on your new term. Tell us a little bit about what you hope to achieve with this visit to washington. What are your objectives here . Prime minister mitsotakis first of all, thank you for your kind words and that introduction. Thank you to the Atlantic Council for its commitment to the transatlantic relationship and for the work that quvee done in greece and im very happy that youre broadening the agenda of your interventions. By looking at issues which are also very much at the center of our priorities, issues such as Climate Change, resilient cities. Theyre very much related to the new agenda that we want to pursue as the country is coming out of a crisis. Im here literally six months to the day when we received a very clear mandate by the greek people to change the country. To leave the crisis behind tooned drive a path towards and to drive a path towards growth. Were coming to washington with a broad delegation, at a time when there are already some very clear results in terms of us being able to actually implement our strategy. Were also coming at a time of great geopolitical turbulence, but also at a time when the greekamerican relationship is, in my mind, the best its ever been. Its an opportunity to take stock of what we have been able to achieve, but also to set a new sort of more ambitious target in terms of what we can achieve visavis our bilateral relationship, talking about im sure well discuss this, issues, strategic and defense priorities. The breadth of our economic cooperation, where i think we can do much more. Cooperation on corporation where i think we can do much more cooperation where i hink we can do much, more. This is an important relationship to greece and to the u. S. And i think it will be an opportunity, in my discussions with President Trump, to reaffirm this mutual commitment to a relationship that has strategic depth and to look at how we can take it further. Weve always been and i think we have an additional reason to claim that in these turbulent times, i think we are very, very reliable and dependable partner of the United States in an admittedly complicated region. Damon well unpack some of the issues you mentioned there. When we began putting this together, we talked about the theme greeces bank. So youre here in washington after a decade of depression in a country that lost over a quarter of its output. Over 450,000 greeks left the driveway seek employment. Unemployment was over 27 , over 50 youth unemployment. Three austerity programs. Yet the countrys emerged from this with democracy and its institutions in tact, society coherent, cohesive. Youre in budget surplus, restored growth. The center is in power. A sense of political stability and increase in confidence. You were remarkably elected on a platform, a clear platform, of Structural Reforms for greece. Something that hadnt been popular in the past. How is that going . What you have been able to achieve so far in the First Six Months . And what comes next as you seek to transform the economy . Prime minister mitsotakis first of all, i think its important to point out that our election was i think an important turning point after a decade of intense economic but also social crisis. Because at some point greeks, having experimented with populism and its leftist but also in its right wing form, we cannot forget that the previous government was a Coalition Government between a leftist radical party and a party that is clearly to the right of new democracy. They clearly failed to deliver. So we made a very clear case to the greek public that we need to change, we need to embrace reforms. We need to do reforms because theyre good for the country and because we believe in them. Not because theyre imposed upon us by the i. M. F. Or by our european creditors. And we received a very strong mandate to push down that path. Were one of the few governments in europe today that has an absolute majority in parliament. Which is a huge bonus, i can tell you, if you look at how complicated Coalition Building has been no other European Countries. This is a huge has been in other European Countries. This is a huge advantage for us to make decisions very quickly and then implement them. And i think also at a time when Greek Society is broadly in support of policies which were viewed with skepticism even a few years ago. So we have a mandate, we have a good team. We have the will to deliver and this is exactly what weve done so far. Weve passed 32 pieces of legislation in six months. Including amending our constitution. The economys reacting very positively. As fred pointed out, our borrowing costs are there are days when theyre lowered than lower than italies. Weve repaid italys. Weve repaid the i. M. F. Weve tapped the capital markets. We are able to deliver on a Growth Strategy that is actually making a real difference for people in the country. Weve started lowering our taxes, we lower taxes on real estate and corporations. Starting january 1 of this year. And i think theres a general sense in greece that we are open for business, were looking to aggressively attract Foreign Direct Investment and its already beginning to happen. So if you look at our performance over the First Six Months, i think we have every reason to be pretty pleased with what we have achieved. There is always this advice that other heads of state in government gave me when i was in the opposition. They told me, make sure you do the reforms very quickly. And then when you look at how other governments have perform, usually that is not the case. Were going against the trend and weve also sid that for twebt we will continue said that for 2020 well continue with this aggressive reform agenda. Im sure the economy is going to react very positively. I expect growth rates close to 3 for 2020. And this will give us also the breathing space to address some the more complicated issues regarding reforms that take time to really show clear results such as public administration, justice or education. Damon mr. Prime minister, you used the adjective aggressive. You set aggressive benchmarks for 2023. 4 growth. 100 billion in euros in new investment in greece. One of the things that youve made a point of pointing out is concern about what had been a straitjacket, if you will, of greeces requirement, 3. 5 of g. D. P. Surplus as a result of the austerity posterity programs. And a desire to sort of renegotiate this. Youll see the i. M. F. , youre talking to your european partners. How do you see the flexibility that you might have in making some of these decisions about investment Going Forward . Prime minister mitsotakis the 3. 5 restriction on our primary surpluses is a policy that comes from a different era. It was agreed at a time when there were real concerns about our debt sustainability. But i think it was also a necessary instrument at a time when our creditors did not have enough trust in the greek political elites to actually deliver reforms. The idea was very simple. We keep greece on a very tight fiscal leash. Because if we give them more fiscal space, theyll start doing the same things that brought the crisis about in the first place. I think we have every reason to argue that this is no longer the case today. O we need to change the 3. 5 primary surplus starting in 2021. This is what i said when i first got elected. I said, i dont want to change the surplus targets for 2019 or 2020. Why . Because i need time to establish my credibility. So were starting this discussion in you are nest earnest with our creditors. With the euro group. We will have the support of the i. M. F. I will see them immediately after our discussion. The i. M. F. Has argued very convincingly why the primary surpluses need to be lowered and i expect to have their support as we continue these discussions with our european partners. And its also very important to point out that we want to use the additional fiscal space in order to further