His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Máxima payed a state visit to Greece, at the invitation of President Katerina Sakellaropoulou. The visit took place from Monday 31 October to Wednesday 2 November in Athens and Thessaloniki. The state visit focused on issues including cooperation on innovation, sustainability, migration and human rights, and the countries’ partnership within the European Union.
On Tuesday 2 November, as part of their official visit to Greece, the King and Queen attended an Economic Session on sustainability and agriculture entitled “Farming the Future: Water & Energy efficiency for Agriculture in Greece” in Thessaloniki at the DT&S center. Representatives from the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture Nature and Food Quality, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, and Enterprise Greece joined the economic session. Around 30 companies from The Netherlands and Greece were present, and more than 60 match-making discussions took place.
Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, as a professor of Environmental Economics and a leader in sustainable development, was invited by the Embassy of the Netherlands to moderate the entire session.
The Dutch-Greek Economic session – PART I was opend by His Majesty King Willem- Alexander. In addition the Greek Ministers of Rural Development and Food Mr. Georgantas, of Environment and Energy Mr. Skrekas, Deputy Minister of the Macedonia and Thrace Mr. Kalafatis and Governor Mr. Tzitzikostas made contributions.
This was followed by a session on “Sustainable food production: The need for water and energy-smart solutions”. The topics discussed were Investing in technology to operate modern greenhouse facilities; Making the shift towards climate-smart production processes; Reducing post-harvest losses and adding value; Ensuring modern (retail) markets the supply of safe and high quality produce; and Sustainable water and energy resources management.
The Royal couple and Dutch-Greek Government officials held talks with the participants about challenges in the Greek horticulture as well as water and energy sectors. Experts on each table identified how Dutch-Greek collaboration in technology & know-how can offer solutions to deal with their theme’s challenges.
Then the Dutch-Greek Economic Session Part II was followed which moderated by Prof. Phoebe Koundouri and Prof. Yannis Ioannidis.
Topics:
• Collaboration & transparency in horticulture supply chains by Richard Schouten, Branch Organisation Fresh Produce Center Netherlands (GroentenFruit Huis)
• Energy efficiency in Agriculture by Spyridon Economou, Center for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES), Greece
• Water for Tomorrow Project by Yiannis Georgakellos, Athenian Brewery (Heineken) Greece
• Opportunities for doing Business in Greece by Elias Eliades, Enterprise Greece
The Royal Couple spoke with the present companies about climate smart agriculture, namely innovative and sustainable use of water and energy in agriculture.
Pictures by: George Matsoukatidis ©MinBZ
Drone picture by: Dimitris Tosidis ©MinBZ