14/4/2014 - There has been great public interest in the Symposium for public consultation on the Operational Programme “EPAnEK-kinisi” held on 3.4.14 at the Hilton, Athens

Over 600 participants attended the Symposium for public consultation on the Operational Programme 'EPAnEK-kinisi' (Restart), within the framework of the new NSRF 2014-2020, which was successfully held on Thursday, 3 April, at the Hilton Hotel.

During the opening of the event, speeches were made by the Minister of Development and Competitiveness, Kostis Hatzidakis, the head of the Athens Office of the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, the Secertary General for Public Investments – NSRF, Yiorgos Yiannousis, the President of the Hellenic Bank Association, Yiorgos Zannias, the head of the Strategic Planning Bureau of the Prime Minister's Office, Dimitris Ptochos, the President of the Hellenic Venture Capital Association, Yiannis Papadopoulos, and the founder of Warply (Startup company), Yiannis Doxaras.

The speeches were followed by fertile dialogue during the discussions of individual workshops held about the sectors of the economy on which emphasis will be placed within the framework of the new programme 'EPAnEK-kinisi'. These sectors are:

1.tourism

2.agro-nutrition

3.logistics

4.the environmental industry

5.health in general

6.energy production-saving

7.information and communication technologies

8.materials-constructions

9.creative industries

As stressed by the Minister of Development and Competitiveness, Mr. Kostis Hatzidakis, Greece has comparative advantages in these nine specific sectors of the economy and therefore the results for the recovery of the economy and the creation of jobs will be immediate.

The EPAnEK-kinisi Programme, with a budget of 3.73 billion euros, is the largest operational programme of the new NSRF, placing emphasis on innovation with double the budget (raised from 4% to 8%) and on export-oriented enterprises.

More specifically, 9 Sector Councils, one for each priority sector and consisting of representatives of the business community, will be established for the 'Epanekkinisi' Programme, monitoring the implementation of the developmental plan, proposing measures and strategies to support each sector and recording whether policies are being implemented and what their impact on competitiveness is.

Within the framework of the public consultation, an online consultation is also running on the 9 strategic texts of EPAnEK-kinisi, which will end on 22 April, at 17.00. The proposals and views submitted will be taken into account during the final processing of the Plan for the Operational Programme Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship & Innovation 'EPAnEK-kinisi'. The detailed texts under deliberation are posted online at http://www.antagonistikotita.gr.

Upon completion of the public consultation, the 'Epanekkinisi' Programme will be sent to the European Commission for Approval, while all Sector and Regional Programme are expected to have been sent by the 28th of April.

See photos from the event