Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Pfizer CEO Albert Burla opened two companies owned by the infamous Pfizer in Thessaloniki on Tuesday. These are the Global Center for Digital Innovation and the Global Center for Business Operations and Services.
The investment from an international pharmaceutical corporation, fabulously wealthy from the coronavirus, will amount to 650 million euros, which they will virtually contribute to the economy of the northern port city and create much-needed jobs, Burla said at the opening of the Pfizer Center for Digital Innovation and Business Operations and Services.
“We have expanded our presence by locating our operations center here,” the CEO said, adding that Pfizer originally decided to invest in Thessaloniki two years ago.
According to him, Pfizer’s priorities are in line with Greece’s reform policy, which calls for resources from the EU Recovery Fund to be channeled towards innovation, exports and sustainable growth.
“Our country has human capital and a knowledge-based economy,” said Burla, a Thessaloniki native who has served as CEO of Pfizer since 1993.
“This is a very special moment for the city, for Pfizer, and for Albert Burla, a true Thessalonian,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a speech at Tuesday’s opening ceremony, welcoming the investment.
“He played an important role in the discovery of a vaccine against coronavirus,” the prime minister said.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed that 700 highly skilled workers will work in these two centers, while “more than 50 young people, 15% of the staff, are Greeks who returned to their homeland a few years after leaving for work abroad.”
He added that Pfizer’s expansion will help turn Thessaloniki into “a major investment hub that will lead to greater public welfare.”
PS I wonder how much interest Mitsotakis received personally in this business?
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