Greek PM Mitsotakis welcomes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Athens
ATHENS, July 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Greece and Saudi Arabia will explore further bilateral cooperation in many sectors with emphasis on energy, as announced by the two sides during the two-day visit of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz to Athens.
“We would like to explore further opportunities between our two countries and our two economies to partner and to attract more Saudi investment into Greece,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in statements welcoming the Saudi Crown Prince, according to Greek national broadcaster ERT.
“Linking the grid of electricity, we can provide Greece and southwest Europe through Greece much cheaper renewable energy … Also, we are working about hydrogen and how to turn Greece as a hub for Europe for hydrogen. That is a game changer for both of us,” Mohammed said on his part.
Trade and security are also on the agenda of discussions during his visit, he added.
Greek and Saudi private business groups are expected to sign a series of agreements in the fields of maritime transport, aquaculture, waste management, culture, food and agricultural products, construction and defense technology, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.
Mohammed’s visit to Greece on Tuesday is his first to the European Union since the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He is also expected to visit France next, state news agency SPA reported.
“We can provide Greece and Southwest Europe through Greece with much cheaper renewable energy and get an MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] signed about that today,” Mohammed said, sitting alongside Mitsotakis.
Mohammed, the kingdom’s de facto ruler whose last official visit outside the Middle East was to Japan in 2019 for a G20 summit, was expected discuss bilateral ties and matters of mutual interest, according to SPA.
Greece and Saudi Arabia agreed in May on the main terms to set up a joint venture to build a data cable, the so-called “East to Med Data Corridor”, which will be developed by MENA HUB, owned by Saudi Arabia’s STC and Greek telecoms and satellite applications company TTSA.
A Greek diplomatic source said that a deal on the undersea cable along with other agreements in energy and military would be signed.
“We will be signing important agreements and we will have an opportunity to further discuss regional developments,” Mitsotakis said.
Mitsotakis was among Western leaders who have visited Riyadh since the murder of Khashoggi.
France’s President Emanuel Macron also visited Riyadh last year and US President Joe Biden met MBS on a trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this month as Washington works to ease tensions with Riyadh.
Mohammed has also received a recent boost from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who visited Saudi Arabia in April, and then welcomed Crown Prince Mohammed in Ankara in June.
Erdogan had enraged the Saudis by vigorously pursuing the Khashoggi case, opening an investigation and briefing international media about the lurid details of the killing.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a spike in energy prices earlier this year, Saudi Arabia came under pressure from the US and European powers to pump more oil.
In May, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said the kingdom had done what it could for the oil market. — NNN-AGENCIES
