“We had an in-depth discussion, very honest, very productive and very meaningful.” This was emphasized, among other things, by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Alexandra Papadopoulou, to the Greek correspondents in London immediately after the completion of her official visit to the British capital.

Mrs. Papadopoulou traveled to London on Monday with the main purpose of examining together with the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs the progress that has been made in the Bilateral Strategic Framework between Greece and the United Kingdom.

This is the agreement signed in 2021 by the two countries with Foreign Ministers Nikos Dendias and Liz Traz respectively and which covers a wide range of sectors such as: foreign policy and defence, trade and investments, health, education, tourism and culture.

In this context, this afternoon Ms. Papadopoulou met with the British Undersecretary for Europe, Leo Doherty. Among other things, the two of them discussed the strengthening of defense cooperation, energy security and the prospects for investments. Extensive reference was also made to the Cyprus issue, especially after the latest developments with the appointment of the special UN envoy. As expected, they exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East with a focus on Gaza as well as developments in the Western Balkans.

“It is a close relationship that we have with the United Kingdom. It has a depth of time and of course it has possibilities of further deepening and further improvement”, pointed out the Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Regarding the climate of the meeting, Ms. Papadopoulou described it as “very good”, pointing out that the British side did everything it could to “make the climate as good as possible”.

The Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs had the opportunity to promote Greece’s candidacy to the UN Security Council for a non-permanent member position in the period 2025-2026 as well as the upcoming 9th “Our Ocean Conference” to be held in Athens from on the 15th to the 17th of April.

Ms Papadopoulou also met Labour’s shadow undersecretary for Europe, Stephen Doughty. It is worth noting that for a long time the Greek government has opened a channel of communication with the Labor party as the next government of the United Kingdom will be out of a shocking prospect. It is typical that during the Greek Prime Minister’s last visit to London, Mr. Mitsotakis met with the leader of the official opposition, Sir Keir Starmer.