WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is a Greek Embassy transcript of
an interview Saturday with Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on
Greek Public Service TV:

Question: What is the conclusion that you draw from the meetings
you had earlier today in Washington D.C.?

Venizelos: IMF’s annual meeting takes place at a time of great
fluidity in global economy and uncertainty over the state of affairs of
the Euro Area. This is absolutely unjustifiable and out of touch, given
to the strength of the Euro and the strength of the 17 Euro Area member
states.

For Greece, those are negative counter effects that have without
doubt been corrected. This is what our effort here is all about, in the
framework of this Summit, with a series of meetings aimed at stabilizing
the situation and sending the kind of message that corresponds to our
potential as a Euro Area and as Greece. And I do think that we have made
substantial progress. What is needed is patience, persistence, a
systemic effort, national unity and national cohesion.

From my meetings here in Washington D.C. with many of my
counterparts, from my meeting with the German Finance Minister Mr.
Schaeuble, from my meetings with my Italian, French and Belgian
counterparts, my meetings with my counterparts from other countries
outside Europe and from my discussion with the new ECB President, Mr.
Draghi, there is one message that comes to surface. A very clear
message: Greece is and will always be a Euro Area member state.

Presently, Greece is taking some very important and tough
decisions. At a moment that Greeks are subjected to new and very
important new sacrifices, we regain of our lost credibility, we answer
back to the negative stereotypes about Greece that have been floating
around internationally over an extended period of time.

There is a line of events that is being followed: The troika is
coming back. The sixth tranche is being disbursed. The July decisions
are being implemented, so that we can get to a truly viable, in the long
term, Greek sovereign debt, through the implementation of the July 21
decisions. This is a real and clear plan. We have to do everything in
our power to avoid being blamed by anyone.

Greeks are aware of the fact that this is a critical period in
time. They know that the sacrifices, injustices and pressures are the
cost that we pay for mistakes of the past which governments and the
political world in general bear the primary responsibility for. But
there also exists a structural problem for the country. There’s a
problem of grey economy, of tax evasion, of statism, a problem of lack
of competitiveness. This must now be resolved for the benefit of our
children, to the benefit of the coming generations. This is being made
perfectly understood. What we did over the past few weeks has sent a
very strong message at an international level.

Tomorrow, I will have a much clearer picture because I will meet
with the International Institute of Finance (IIF), I will speak before
its general assembly. I will also have a very substantial meeting with
Madame Lagarde and the executive officers of IMF. There are also
meetings to be held with Messrs. Trichet and Rehn, here in Washington
DC.

Question: Out of all those meetings, do you believe that there will
be an end to the Cassandras that see Greece default?

Venizelos: If you look very carefully at the statements by all
the relevant officers and representatives of the Euro Area and its
member states, you will realize that there are two solid messages:
Greece is and will always be in the Euro. Greece is never going to
default because that would have been catastrophic for the Euro Area and
for many other countries beyond the Euro Area -and that is being
understood very well by the US Administration with the representatives
of which — with the Assistant Secretaries of State and the Treasury,
because it is only very recently that I had met with Secretaries Clinton
and Geithner — I met with here once again.

Therefore, those two messages constitute the track on which we must
move and indeed we do as a country, an economy and a nation.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

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