The Minister of Development held a bilateral meeting and visit to Elefsina Shipyards today (6.10.2025). Takis Theodorikakosthe Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi ArabiaBandar Ibrahim Alkhorayef and Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Development Officer, Saleh al-Soolami. Tomorrow there will be a breakfast work with the participation of representatives of large Greek companies.
More specifically, this morning Takis Theodorikakos met with the Saudi delegation at the Ministry of Development in a particularly positive and productive climate. The possibilities of further deepening the strategic cooperation of Greece – Saudi Arabia were examined in detail in attracting significant investment and facilitating business in both countries, with an emphasis on shipbuilding, pharmaceutical industry, agri -food and construction.
The meeting was also attended by Secretary General. Private Investment Stellina Siarapi, Secretary General Industry Lefteris Cretan, Ambassador Katerina Varvarigou and Saudi Arabia Ambassador to Greece Ali Abdulrahman Bin Yousef.
They then visited the Elefsina Shipyards, where they were welcomed by the President and CEO of ONEX SHIPYards & Technologies, Panos Xenokostas. They toured the premises and were informed about the prospects for further development of Eleusis shipyards, the jobs created and discussed the opportunities for cooperation with Saudi Arabia’s investment operators in the crucial sector of the shipbuilding industry and the defense industry. Particular emphasis was placed on the contribution of the Shipyards to the Renaissance of the Greek Shipbuilding Industry, which has been integrated into strategic investment with initiatives by the Ministry of Development.
After the meeting, Takis Theodorikakos made the following statement: “We had an extremely positive and creative meeting with the Minister of Industry of Saudi Arabia, a country with a strong regional and strategic role in the wider Middle East area, with which we have substantial strategic relationships. Our trade is about € 1.9 billion. Our common goal is to strengthen them much more. We discussed and agreed in the context of facilitating the attraction of significant investments by Saudi Arabia to our homeland in many areas. For our part, we put a special emphasis on the need to strengthen the shipbuilding industry, with investments in this area, but also in very important others such as agri -food, pharmaceutical industry and construction. To this end, we also facilitate Greek companies to operate in all these areas with their own investments in Saudi Arabia. “