Panos Kouanis participates in the 32nd Greek Economic Summit-GES2021

The 32nd Greek Economic Summit was held in Athens (6-8/12), in a hybrid format, organized by the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the Athens Stock Exchange and with the strategic partnership of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Atlantic Council. Prominent personalities from Greece and abroad participated in the forum, aiming to exchange ideas and knowledge on the Greek and international economy, shaping a roadmap to a sustainable future with prosperity for all, without exclusions.

President and CEO of EKOME, Panos Kouanis participated in the session titled: “Geece: A Filming destination in the rise”, along with Vasilis Iliopoulos Vice President & General Manager of Walt Disney in Greece & Israel, Archontoula Papapanagiotou Law partner and coordinator Nikos Filippidis Journalist Alter Ego Media. They discussed how our country has managed to reach at a competitive level of recognition, during the pandemic, having created the environment for a continuous growth both in business and economy.

Panos Kouanis spoke about EKOME’s main goal to create an ecosystem where Greek and foreign production companies can implement their investments in Greece and at the same time to strengthen employment in the entire range of audiovisual production field. EKOME having improved the main incentive of attracting major productions and through the best possible management of the pandemic, due to this safe environment, has managed to bring in Greece many productions that would otherwise be filmed to other countries. As he remarked: “This year we are counting films and series with total expenses around €250 million and over 40,000 jobs in Greece. Big-scale productions that came to our country have created the need for both human resources and infrastructure. There is a strong need for studios all over the country and mobility from entrepreneurs to be active in production and post production’s field. Many foreign producers have an eye on Greece for their next move. EKOME is aiming to make Greece the number one destination in Europe.”

Vasilis Iliopoulos referred to the international Walt Disney production of “Greek Freak” shot in Greece, contributing over 20 million euros to the country, while employing more than 5,000 cast and crew in total. He also remarked: “In a quite short time we covered a lot of ground, in relation to other countries, and the proof for that is that one studio after another continue to come to Greece. It’s a good starting point. As long as the legal framework for audiovisual production remains friendly and flexible, and along with the given talent in the Greek market, this is a great incentive for the studios to keep filming in Greece. We are a European safe country, processes run fast and smooth, and all is a matter of networking in order to attract more investments to Greece.

Archontoula Papapanagiotou, a lawyer specialized in media, analyzed the success story that the current Greek administration supported and further built upon, and how the legal and institutional framework that has been developed works with a positive sign, in the implementation of big productions in our country, although there are still many issues for improvement. Finally, she pointed the need for “Greek producers to invest in important productions that can create extroversion and can be screened on international digital platforms.”