E. VENIZELOS: Today we had, successively, a bilateral meeting with my Egyptian counterpart and, afterwards, a trilateral meeting with my Egyptian and Cypriot counterparts. This is a configuration that functions very effectively, because Egypt plays a critical role in all the issues of the Arab world and has taken very specific initiatives.
Egypt has contributed to the ceasefire in Gaza and to opening new channels and prospects in Libya, as we also saw from the recent Madrid Conference on Libya. And Greece and Cyprus, within the European Union, supported Egypt from the outset, and we are European countries in the region; countries that are stable and are points of reference.
We have a very rich agenda: Energy issues, issues of the implementation of the Law of the Sea, as well as, mainly, issues that concern the current crises. That is why we decided to hold another meeting very soon, on the ministerial level, in Nicosia, and to organize a Summit Meeting, preferably in Cairo, as soon as possible.
On 12 October, we have been invited by Egypt and Norway to a Donors’ Conference in Cairo, for the reconstruction of Gaza, which is something that is very important as a prerequisite for the reopening of the dialogue in the Middle East on a solution to the Palestinian problem, which underlies all the problems in the region.
JOURNALIST: Was there progress, over last year’s meeting, on the delimitation of maritime zones?
E. VENIZELOS: In the bilateral part of the meeting with my Egyptian counterpart, we looked at the progress in the work of the technical committees on the delimitation of the maritime zones, within the framework of the International Law of the Sea. And we agreed that the next meeting of the technical committees would take place as soon as possible – this time, in Athens. And we have very positive indications regarding the stance of the Egyptian side, which is faithful to the implementation of the International Law of the Sea.
JOURNALIST: Regarding our aid to the Kurds. Have our allies asked us, in addition to the ammunition for the Kurds, to provide anything else? And whether we will.
E. VENIZELOS: No, nothing else has been requested of us. In any case, this participation is voluntary. But you can see that, for the international and regional balance of power, for Greece’s credibility, for the protection of national interests, for our having a strong position in the Cyprus issue, in Greek-Turkish issues – so that we can defend our own issues, which are always at the core of our policy – we have to have international credibility. And this is what we are trying to do, through diplomatic and political means, with humanitarian assistance, as well as through sending ammunition to the Kurdish forces in Iraq, in cooperation, of course, with the government in Baghdad, because this was something that could be done easily.
This was the recommendation from the Hellenic National Defence General Staff and the Ministry of National Defence, and we judged, with the Prime Minister, that this is very important in terms of the regional balance of power and the protection of national interests.
September 27, 2014