These are the agreements signed at the Mitsotakis-Mohammed bin Salman meeting

By Dimitris Gatsiou

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met, today, at the Maximos Palace, with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is making his first official visit to Greece.

The meeting took place in a positive atmosphere, indicative of the strong interest of both sides in further deepening the already close bilateral relations and expanding the dynamically developing Greek-Saudi cooperation, which was also confirmed during the visit of Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Riyadh, in October 2021.

In this context, the establishment of the Supreme Strategic Cooperation Council (SCSC) of the two countries was officially instituted with the signing of a relevant agreement, which consolidates the strategic relationship of the two countries and the systematic promotion of bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.

The Prime Minister underlined the importance of the ECM (East to Med data Corridor) project, the undersea and terrestrial data transmission cable system that will connect Europe with Asia via Greece and Saudi Arabia and make Greece a data entry gateway to the EU, simultaneously connecting it to the Middle East and Asia.

He also had the opportunity to present to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia the initiatives undertaken by our country in order to become an energy hub that connects the wider region with European markets. In this context, the two leaders discussed the prospects of cooperation between the two countries in the field of “green energy”, as well as the possibilities of transferring electricity from Saudi Arabia to Europe through our country, which can become the “bridge” between Middle East and Europe.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis pointed out to his interlocutor the new investment opportunities that Greece offers in tourism infrastructure, the real estate market, maritime transport and the logistics sector, while he emphasized the significant investment potential in port infrastructure and the land transport network in Alexandroupoli . The two leaders also focused their attention on the new prospects opening up for cooperation in digital connectivity, with the transformation of the two countries into important regional data centers thanks to their geographical location.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Mohammed bin Salman also discussed international and regional developments.

The Prime Minister noted that Saudi Arabia is a stable partner with a particularly important role in the Gulf region and beyond.

The Prime Minister’s private meeting with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was followed by extended talks between the two delegations. On the Greek side, the Minister of Development and Investments, Adonis Georgiadis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, the Minister of National Defense, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, the Minister of Citizen Protection, Takis Theodorikakos, the Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs participated , responsible for Economic Diplomacy and External Affairs, Costas Fragogiannis, the General Secretary of International Economic Relations and External Affairs, Yannis Smyrlis, the Director of the Diplomatic Office of the Prime Minister, Ambassador Anna-Maria Boura, the Ambassador of Greece to Saudi Arabia, Alexis Konstantopoulos, the National Security Adviser, Thanos Dokos, the Head of the Economic Office of the Prime Minister Alexis Patelis and the Deputy Government Representative Aristotelia Peloni.

The delegations’ meeting was followed by the signing and exchange of agreements between the two sides in the following areas: establishment of a Supreme Council for Strategic Cooperation, energy, military cooperation, bilateral investments, scientific and technological cooperation, health, crime fighting, culture and sports, technical cooperation in the fields of standardization and quality, cooperation in archiving and file management.

In addition, in the presence of the Prime Minister and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the representatives of Mena Hub (STC), TTSA, PPC and CYTA signed the agreement for the construction of the East to Med data Corridor (EMC) undersea cable.