THESSALONIKI, Greece, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said here Thursday that the messages from Brussels to allow the Greek government to suspend legislated social security cuts are very positive to the country's economic recovery and growth.
"The news from Eurogroup Working Group's meeting is very positive," Tsipras told the third "Thessaloniki Summit 2018", organized by the General Assembly of the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece (FING).
The Greek prime minister referred to Thursday's positive messages from the Eurogroup Working Group meeting that provided the green light to the Greek government's request to suspend legislated social security cuts.
"The country can look ahead with more optimism through the economic recovery and can implement its own national growth strategy plan," Tsipras said, stressing that those investing in prophecies of disaster had been proved wrong.
According to Tsipras, a series of significant and necessary measures to ease the financial burdens will be included in the 2019 draft budget.
He said the unemployment rates were steadily dropping. "In August, the unemployment rate was at 18.9 percent and showed a decrease of 8.6 percentage points compared to August 2013," he said.
He also stressed that the most dynamic element was the drop in youth unemployment, which had declined from 50 percent in August 2014 to 36.8 percent in August 2018.
In addition, in 2017 there was the largest increase in Foreign Direct Investment of the last decade, up 86 percent compared to August 2014.
"The latest official figures show a 16.9 percent increase in exports in the first nine months of 2018, in comparison to the same nine months in 2017," he cited.
During the opening ceremony of the third Thessaloniki Summit, the Greek prime minister praised the prospects for joint development and cooperation with the Balkan countries as "the prospects of the future".
Outlining the cooperation among the countries of the Western Balkans, Tsipras mentioned energy, transport and infrastructure projects as part of the agenda of the summit attended by Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabic, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Romanian Deputy Prime Minister Ana Birchall.
