The Sixth Trilateral Cyprus-Greece-Israel Summit begins in Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon. The aim of the meeting is to further the development of energy resources and security in the eastern Mediterranean. The conference will also include the participation of the United States State Department.
Attending the summit are the Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras, the President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades, the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Accompanying Pompeo will be Francis R. Fannon, the Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources.
Issues on the summit agenda include developments in the eastern Mediterranean as well as cooperation in the fields of energy, security and defense, economy and migration.
During their December Summit, the leaders of Cyprus, Greece and Israel had pledged readiness to proceed with an interstate agreement concerning the EastMed pipeline. The United States had also expressed support for the project, through its Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.
Last week, the State Department praised the Eastern Med project in “moving forward” in exploring and exploiting offshore resources “for the benefit of the people of Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt and Israel.”
According to Greek government sources, Greek PM Tsipras will emphasize that the safe transfer of energy resources to the European Union is one of the main pillars of Greek foreign policy.
According to the same sources, Wednesday’s meeting highlights Washington’s support for the tripartite cooperation between Greece, Cyprus and Israel, while underscoring the three countries’ strengthened role in security and energy developments in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The prospect of US engagement with the trilateral group was discussed during the US-Greek Strategic Dialogue which was held in Washington, D.C. in December of 2018.
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