Greek PM says economy recovering, calls on investors to seize opportunities

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Saturday night urged investors to invest in his country which is recovering and moving to the period of growth.

He made the remarks when presenting his government's roadmap to the post-crisis future during a keynote speech at the opening of the 81st Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), the country's largest annual trade fair held in northern Greece.

"We are exactly at the point where our economy is changing from a negative trend of a seven-year recession to positive growth rates at last," the Greek leader said in his live televised speech, before outlining the "only realistic plan in recent years" to exit the debt crisis and reconstruct the country.

He defended his government's policies almost a year after the last general elections on Sept. 25, 2015.

He noted that following the agreement on the third bailout last summer, all signs and indexes in recent months are showing that a vicious cycle of dramatic economic and social decline is closing and the Greek economy is changing direction.

"I call domestic and foreign investors to take advantage of business opportunities and the favorable framework we are offering to healthy business activity. Invest without any hesitation in Greek economy. The risks are over. From now on there will be only benefits for you and the Greek economy," he said.

He called for a radical change in the country's production model to create new wealth which will be fairly distributed, and called for focus on Greece's comparative advantages which can make the country a hub for trade and energy routes.

He pledged that his government will continue the battle against corruption and accelerate much needed reforms to support healthy business activity and employment.

He also promised concrete swift steps to achieve economy recovery and ease tax burdens.

"We want to turn recovery to fair growth. This is the big challenge which lies ahead," he stressed, saying the shift to an extrovert economy is the key precondition of the fair growth sought.

Tsipras expressed confidence that Greece will exit the bailout program at the end of the next two years, pledging that until then his government will support the most vulnerable groups of society.

More than 10,000 people took part in a series of peaceful rallies organized by the country's largest trade unions earlier outside the TIF's premises calling for more radical actions to put a "real end to austerity."

Approximately 5,000 police officers were deployed across the city to keep order. Endi