“We do not consider that there is a risk of aborting the project” noted the Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Gerapetritisin an interview with the “Parapolitika” radio station, referring to electrical interconnection cable between Cyprus and Greeceafter yesterday’s consultations on the project in Nicosia.

“Greece is very clearly of the opinion that the project will continue normally”, he emphasized and added that our country surrounds this project with absolute confidence. After all, the company that has undertaken it is Greek.

She pointed out that her program electrical interconnection Greece-Cyprus is a project of common interest for the EU, it has been enveloped by the mantle of the EU, which finances a part of it. The project, as he reminded, is extremely important, especially for Cyprus, because it removes its energy isolation.

Mr. Gerapetritis underlined that the cable will pass through the territorial waters of Greece and Cyprus and through international waters of the Greek EEZ.

Asked about the events of Kasosreplied that when there was planning to go into the Greek EEZ, “Turkey, which invokes claims arising from the illegal and non-existent Turkish-Libyan memorandum, sent warships that were at a distance and monitoring the situation.”

“In 24 hours we had the departure of the Turkish ships, none of the Turkish claims were recognized, there was no recognition of them. No permission was given by Turkey nor could it be requested from the Greek side,” he noted. After all, as he added, the company itself issued a statement that the investigation was completely completed, 100% based on the planning that has been set.

“The absolute distortion that is being done is that we allegedly recognized claims, false. Allegedly there was a crisis, and this is false. Allegedly the investigation has not been completed, and this is false”, he said and added: “The investigation is being carried out normally, according to the planning, there was no backtracking and the fact that we have channels of communication obviously helps as well”.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized that “cable laying is absolutely protected, this type of electrical wiring is necessary to provide essential services to citizens. It is absolutely protected by international law.”

Mitsotakis – Erdogan meeting

Asked about the meeting of the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in New York he replied that this is planned although there is no predetermined time yet.

As he pointed out, no meeting is formal.

“Meetings between the two leaders are always of great importance, to confirm that the mood for dialogue still exists, to make an assessment of the steps to date and to plan the next steps”, he underlined.

He added, however, that these meetings should not necessarily result in something big, spectacular, because our goal is to normalize relations with Turkey, to reach a level where these meetings will not be major news.

Mr. Gerapetritis said that we expect the new road map to be determined which will at least include the next steps of the political dialogue (immigration, civil protection), the next steps of a positive agenda (new agreements in the fields of entrepreneurship, market, synergies, etc.) and of the MOEs.

“Whether there will be something further, an upgrade of the dialogue, will be decided by the two leaders”, he added.

Turkey-Egypt relations

Regarding the Turkey-Egypt relationsnoted that “if one sees the text of the joint communique, it does not oppose Greek interests at all and emphasized that Greece wants all its neighbors and all states to have good relations, however: “You can have strategic importance in a wider region with only one partner and as far as Egypt is concerned the strategic partner is Greece”. He emphasized that in the next period we will have further meetings and discussions with Egypt.

Regarding the international position of the country, he pointed out that “it is at the peak it has ever been in the post-colonial period. At the moment, Greece is an interlocutor of all sides, it is an interlocutor in wars and even reliable”.

“Greece in 2025-2026 will be the country that will be able to co-determine the global security architecture, being in the UN Security Council,” he underlined and added: “Greece’s foreign policy is running a marathon at breakneck speed.”

“At the moment the policy of Greece, approved by the Greek people by a large majority, is to acquire a large diplomatic capital and on the other hand, regardless of any complaints I hear, the Greek people want a strict, prudent, proud foreign policy. Without making any concessions, we can talk to everyone”, concluded the Minister of Foreign Affairs.