We are considering with President Sisi to develop a new interconnection between Greece and Egypt, so that we will be able to transfer cheap energy from RES – which will be produced in this part of the world – not only to Greece but also to the European markets, noted the Prime Minister
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis participated today in the proceedings of the COP27 meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. He met, on the sidelines of the conference, with the US President’s Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerrytook part in the high-level event on the Cyprus-Egypt initiative to coordinate climate change actions in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, and co-chaired a high-level roundtable on safe access to water.
During the meeting with John Kerry, the cooperation between Greece and the United States in dealing with climate change and achieving the goal of zero emissions by 2050 was discussed.
The prime minister informed his interlocutor about the preparation of the organization of the International Conference “Our Ocean Conference” in 2024 in Greece, but also about our country’s support for the “Green Shipping Challenge” initiative of the USA and Norway.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed US initiatives to reduce shipping’s energy footprint, emphasizing the pivotal role of Greek-owned ocean shipping – the largest in the world – for the success of any goal of developing sustainable solutions in the sector.
The initiative “Green Shipping Challenge”, announced at COP27, aims to encourage governments, ports and shipping companies to take concrete steps to decarbonise the shipping sector by 2050 at the latest.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis also informed Mr. Kerry about Greece’s initiatives regarding the diversification of energy sources and routes and for the transformation of our country into an energy transfer hub that connects Africa and the eastern Mediterranean with eastern Europe.
Earlier, the prime minister took part, with the President of Egypt and host of the COP27 session, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Anastasiadisat the high-level event for the Cyprus and Egypt Initiative “Coordinating Climate Change Actions in the Eastern Mediterranean & Middle East”.
In his speech, the Prime Minister underlined the importance of regional cooperation and coordination to address climate change in the eastern Mediterranean, with an emphasis on electricity interconnections and natural disaster management.
“There is a need to further cooperate with regard to energy interconnection. This is a matter of paramount importance to us. Of course we are looking, with President Sisi, to develop a new, important interconnection between Greece and Egypt, so that we are able to transfer cheap energy from renewable sources – produced in this part of the world – not only to Greece but and in the European markets that are looking for cheaper energy that comes from RES”, noted the Prime Minister.
Referring to the challenges caused by the climate crisis in the field of civil protection, Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized the need to expand transnational cooperation.
“We all face catastrophic weather events. Some of us deal with fires more often, others may deal with floods more. And it is relatively easy and efficient to work together in terms of sharing civil protection resources. For example, in the forest fires we experienced this summer – fortunately they were much less destructive than the fires of the previous summer – Jordan reacted very quickly and sent us a helicopter.
We did the same with Israel and vice versa. I would therefore urge the group to consider the possibility of closer cooperation in the field of civil protection” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“We are doing this at the level of the European Union and I think it would be a very good message for the European RescEU mechanism to ally with countries in the region so that there are more resources to be shared, so that we can respond to events that we know will be all and more likely,” the prime minister added.
This initiative was announced by the Republic of Cyprus in 2018 and was supported from the beginning by Greece. It led to the establishment of a “Framework of Policies and Measures for the Climate Crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East”, which includes six mutually supporting pillars of action. The aim of the initiative is the drawing up of a Regional Action Plan by the countries of the region, which will be based on these six pillars.
As part of the work of COP27, the Prime Minister co-chaired, together with the President of Senegal and Chairperson of the African Union, Macky Sall, the high-level round table on safe and unhindered access to water.
In his remarks, the Prime Minister underlined that limited access to clean water and droughts are inextricably linked to climate change and affect a large part of the world’s population, adding that these phenomena affect the entire Mediterranean basin. He emphasized that droughts are a multi-layered challenge that contributes to migratory flows and population movements and highlighted the need to implement partnerships and joint initiatives for effective water resource management.
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