Foreign ministry had ‘great successes’ in the last four years, Dendias says in ERT interview

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The agreements with Egypt and Italy on the boundaries of Greece’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the defence agreements with France, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the United States and the “broadening of the foreign policy horizon” were among the “great successes” of the last four years, as listed by Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in an interview with the state broadcaster ERT on Wednesday evening.

“The things that happened at the foreign ministry in the last four years were not entirely predictable. We had great successes in these years,” Dendias said, regarding his term at the helm of the ministry.

He also pointed to the initial agreement with Albania, the work to develop relations with African and South American countries and Greece’s three candidacies for roles in the United Nations. “All these were new approaches, or at least approaches that went beyond the horizon,” he said.

Dendias predicted that Greece will be successful in its bid to be elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and highlighted the “huge benefits” that this will bring.

The minister also especially emphasised the very good relations with the United States, saying that this was one of the great successes of the Mitsotakis government, as well as highlighting the importance of Greece’s strategic relations with Egypt.

“With Egypt we now have shared views on a series of issues, not just issues concerning the EEZ where we have signed agreements. We view security and stability in the same way and Egypt is precisely that country through which we anticipate that via a cable, possibly through pipelines, to become a gateway for energy in Europe,” he said.

At the same time, he clarified that the plans for the cable did not mean abandoning the EastMed, noting that this was an entirely separate issue.

“Greece wants to become an energy hub. Egypt is an energy export point, either energy that it produces itself or energy that it will produce via renewable energy sources. The cable is a means, one of the ways of transporting electrical energy. There could also be a pipeline, there could also be ships with LNG. The relationship with Egypt ensures multiple roles for Greece in Southeastern Europe,” Dendias said.

On relations with Turkey, he expressed hope that the current calm will continue so that “after the elections we can return to a serious discussion on resolving our difference”, saying it would be good for the new governments that arise in each country to exploit the current momentum, which might not last forever. He also suggested that changes should be made regarding the exploratory talks in order to possibly lead to better results.

On the negotiations with Albania regarding the continental shelf and EEZ, Dendias said the Albanian side was preparing to sign a document that will permit a negotiating team to talk with Greece on these issues, expressing the opinion that this will happen within 2023.

Source: ANA – MPA

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