The issues of the Supreme Cooperation Council, which will take place in early 2025 in Ankara, were discussed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, GIorgos Gerapetritiswith its Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, during the meeting they had today on the sidelines NATO Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. According to diplomatic sources, the meeting between the two men lasted 40 minutes.

As he stated, the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, after the end of the work of the Council, it was “an intense two days in Brussels”.

Mr. Gerapetritis met with the new leadership of the European Commission, including the vice-president, Dubravka Suitsa, responsible for the Mediterranean and demographics. “We had the opportunity to discuss the issues concerning our country, about the climate crisiswhose focus is the Mediterranean and for the possible migration flows, which are going to develop, for the sustainable infrastructures, which must exist in the Mediterranean, as well as for the demographics, which is a huge European problem and for the first time time is at the center of attention in the European Union” said Mr. Gerapetritis.

Also, the Greek minister met with the Greek Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, with whom they discussed the matters concerning his portfolio. Mr. Gerapetritis noted that he also met with the Greek MEPs, stressing that “it is important that the presence of the Greek MEPs has an additional multiplier value for our country”.

In the context of the NATO foreign ministers’ conference, the Greek minister pointed out: “We had the opportunity to listen to King Abdullah of Jordan, who presented to us the situation for the Middle East, a situation that is taking shape after the ceasefire in Lebanon, in a situation that remains fragile, but creates a crevice of optimism. There should be an immediate ceasefire. The humanitarian crisis that is currently raging must be stopped. We must have the immediate release of the hostages. Greece always stands by international law and for this reason we also support the two-state solution with the establishment of the Palestinian state”.

“We had the opportunity to listen to the Ukrainian foreign minister. I also had a special conversation with him. A bilateral discussion in which he told me about the situation in the field, which is not good at all and which forms conditions of even greater concern in view of the winter. Greece stands by Ukraine. We believe that there should be an immediate solution, which takes full account of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and this should be done as soon as possible, obviously within the framework of international law.” he added.

Then Mr. Gerapetritis said: “I had the opportunity to meet with my Turkish counterpart to discuss the issues of the upcoming Supreme Cooperation Council, which will take place in early 2025 in Ankara.”

Finally, the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized that in the midst of developments, which are currently underway and there are many, Greece “as a member of NATO, a strong member of the European Union, and in less than a month, a member of the United Nations Security Council, it has a very important diplomatic capital, an international footprint, which allows it to have a say in the international security architecture . A partner who is reliable, consistent, based on principles, international law. We will continue our course in order to grow our diplomatic, international footprint”.