Pfizer’s business ventures in Thessaloniki “are a game changer” and watched by the company’s competitors and partners alike, said CEO Albert Bourla at the inauguration of the company’s Global Centre for Digital Innovation and its Global Centre for Business Operations & Services Center in the northern Greek city on Tuesday, in the presence of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Bourla added that he had “spoken with everyone – Cisco, Amazon, and Microsoft – who have all enquired about Pfizer’s experience, and naturally I told them we are very excited.”
Greece “can certainly develop” into a global technology and innovation hub, and attract many more investments, Bourla pointed out. “I do love Greece,” he stressed, “but I invest believing that our idea will prove us right – that the dynamic we found here and the resulting productivity will leave many American, German and Dutch investors astounded.”
Bourla also cited a new study by the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE), according to which Pfizer’s investment will bring 1,110 new jobs, and contribute more than 650 million euros, or 0.5% of GDP, to the city of Thessaloniki on an annual basis over the next decade.
A 60 pct of the people that will work for the company in Thessalloniki live in the city, another 15 pct are Greeks from other areas in the country, and another 10 pct comes from other countries. A 15 pct of all these workers are Greeks who had left the country but came back, he noted.
SOURCE: AMNA
