Greece, Israel, Greek Cyprus reaffirm to deepen trilateral cooperation in many fields

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) - Greece, Israel, and the Greek Cypriot administration on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to deepening trilateral cooperation in multiple fields.

“During our discussion, we reaffirmed our aim to intensify collaboration in many fields, including energy, security, defense, economy, and academia,” said Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides at a joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu in Lefkosa (Nicosia) following their meeting.

All three leaders briefed the media on the main points of the meeting without taking any questions from journalists.

Netanyahu, for his part, has emphasized the importance of improving relations and cooperation between the parties in many fields since the formation of the trilateral partnership.

They focused on three main issues in their meeting, including energy, gas, and electricity, as well as firefighting, he said.

Concerning gas, Netanyahu remarked that a decision on how Israeli gas would be exported to be made soon. "A decision will be made within three to six months. Probably about three months," he estimated.

The mechanism for connecting the parties’ electricity grids was also discussed during the meeting, the Israeli premier said.

"There is now the possibility of extending the Abraham Accords to normalization with Saudi Arabia," Netanyahu said, adding that is something all three countries view as a strong possibility.

However, they believe it has the potential to connect India, the Arabian Peninsula, Israel, Greek Cypriot administration, and Europe, he said.

Mitsotaks, for his part, confirmed the possibility of expanding the trilateral format to include other countries such as India.

The Indian prime minister could be invited to the next trilateral meeting, which will be held in Israel or Greece, according to him.

Mitsotakis also reiterated that energy was one of the major topics discussed at the meeting.

Investing heavily in the energy sector, Greece aspires to be a significant player in the export of natural gas from Israel and the Greek Cypriot administration to the EU, he added.