Defence Minister's Dimitris Avramopoulos statement following his meeting with the US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta

Following his meeting with his US counterpart Mr. Leon Panetta in Washington, the Minister of National Defence Mr. Dimitris Avramopoulos made the following statement:

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: I met today with the United States Secretary of Defence Mr. Panetta and we had a heartfelt and friendly discussion on matters pertaining to defence cooperation between Greece and the United States. Given the opportunity, we proceeded to a broader review of the situation in the Mediterranean, in the Middle East and we explicitly set the framework within which our cooperation progresses, at bilateral level but also under the auspices of the United Nations and the European Union.

He expressed his acknowledgement as to Greece’s contribution to the operations which took place in Libya and in my turn, I brought to his notice that the Greek national defence system, which despite the financial crisis still remains one of the most powerful and reliable in the broader region, will always be at the service of peace, cooperation, security and stability in our area.

We also made reference to other important issues, such as the Cyprus and the Skopjan issue. I stated the case to Mr Panetta, as it has been shaped.

Finally, we reaffirmed our mutual intention to promote defence cooperation programmes. I note down that Mr. Panetta, on behalf of the Pentagon and the Department of Defence, assured me on their unreserved help to the Hellenic Armed Forces.

Currently, one more meeting is ongoing with Mr. Dempsey, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff General Kostarakos, who focus on the technicalities of this political agreement.

This was the framework within which ranged today’s meeting which was, as I said in the beginning, very friendly and especially heartfelt. What is important is to point out that what is happening currently has not undermined Greece’s strategic role. And this results from what was discussed, but also from the fact that, through the great sacrifices made by the Hellenic people, we sustain one of the most efficient national defence systems.

JOURNALIST: Mister Minister, did you discuss the EEZ and energy issues?

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: We generally discussed the cooperation in the broader region, the cooperation between Greece and Israel, and we also evaluated the new geopolitical and geostrategic environment, as it has been formed, where naturally our policy on energy plays a vital role.

JOURNALIST: Then, the EEZ issue was discussed

D. AVRAMOPOULOS: Not exactly. Besides, this is ultimately not our mission.  This is rather an issue to be dealt by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, when we refer to a Greek-Israeli cooperation, when we bring out the importance of the Cyprus issue as one of the problems that must be worked out imminently in order to form an environment of stability in the area, it is clear that we did not leave aside any cooperation at a broader spectrum.