Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras "stayed on message" during an address at the Brookings Institute in Washington D.C. on Wednesday afternoon, underlining that the still bailout-dependent country is finally exiting a nearly eight-year economic crisis and that his leftist-rightist coalition government is "investor friendly".

 

The one-time leftist firebrand politician also reiterated that relations with the United States are "strategic", a day after being received at the White House by US President Donald Trump - who lies on the opposite ideological spectrum as Tsipras - and after confirming a deal to spend up to 2.4 billion USD on upgrading Greece's fleet of F-16 warplanes.

 

Moreover, asked by the event's moderators about the IMF's involvement in the current Greek bailout program - which ends in August 2018 - Tsipras said it would be best for the country to successfully complete the program with the Fund's participation, if this means that favorable decisions are taken for Greek debt relief.

He also repeated a favorite leitmotif of his government, namely, that the IMF's forecast have often proved erroneous, while at the same time saying he's satisfied by top IMF officials, which said the Fund does not want new austerity measures for the country and that it continues to insist on Greek debt relief.

 

Finally, Tsipras maintained that the actual price tag for Athens from the F-16 deal will not surpass 1.1 billion euros, and that the agreement is significant for the country's defense, emphasizing, in fact, that "our neighbors aren't Luxembourg or Belgium."