Egyptian President in Athens

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras welcomed for talks yesterday, at government headquarters, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who is on a three-day official visit to Greece. Tsipras remarked that Sisi’s visit inaugurates a new era of cooperation that will be a catalyst for positive developments in the broader region.

 

At the meeting, the two leaders agreed to expand their energy and business cooperation, most notably through their trilateral cooperation with Cyprus in delineating the Greece-Egypt Exclusive Economic Zones. The Egyptian president expressed hope that this will form a “nucleus for cooperation” throughout the region, while the Greek PM underlined that this cooperation takes place on the basis of international law so that “we can exploit our national wealth and proceed with initiatives for joint development”, he said.

 

Ports, tourism and business were the three areas of entrepreneurial cooperation discussed at length at the bilateral talks. Tsipras said Athens is determined to pursue all aspects of energy exploitation and business cooperation, including those of Greek construction companies undertaking projects near the Suez Canal. The two sides also decided on information sharing in the effort to combat terrorism. 

 

The Egyptian leader also met with Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos at the presidential mansion, where the latterreferred to the exceptional trilateral cooperation between Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, adding that this constitutes a model of cooperation as it fully respects international law, written and customary, noting that Turkey can learn a lot regarding its cooperation with Greece and Cyprus.

Tsipras and Sisi will be joined today by Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades for a third round of talks, to be dominated by the exploitation of Mediterranean gas deposits and regional security.