Your Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
I am particularly glad to be here with you today and I would like to convey the greetings of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
President Duda, thank you, not only for organizing this Summit, but also for your valuable contribution, considering the fact that you were at the forefront of establishing this Initiative, ten years ago, being among the few first to envision the Three Seas Initiative contribution towards not only economic progress and prosperity, but also towards security, stability and infrastructure resiliency in Eastern Europe and the EU as a whole, which become today all the more important in light of Russia’s on-going brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, already in its 4th year.
Ukraine continues to enjoy our full, unwavering support, as we’re all looking forward to the current peace negotiations eventually bearing fruits. The Three Seas Initiative is, indeed, one of the fora that can make a valuable contribution to the recovery and reconstruction of the war-torn country and its connectivity to regional infrastructure networks, also with the ultimate goal of its EU membership in mind.
In this framework of common, profound and perplex geopolitical challenges we are facing, existing and planned interconnection projects between Greece and our neighbors, such as our natural gas regasification facilities, energy interconnections with neighboring Balkan countries, the upgrading of seaports and railway connections in Northern Greece, as well as planned energy interconnection projects with North Africa and the Middle East, are examples of the added-value which Greece contributes to the Initiative, adding also two more Seas — the Aegean Sea and the Ionian Sea — to the three Seas of the Initiative.
However, at the same time, we need not forget the equal importance of the Initiative working in tandem with and in complementarity to EU’s wider policies and key funding instruments, such as the “Global Gateway” project, towards the common goal of safeguarding and promoting Europe’s stability and economic development.
I believe it is the aspects of “security”, “resiliency” and “diversification” our Initiative promotes in this part of Europe and, I may say, the world as a whole, that attracts a growing interest by other states and stakeholders to connect with it.
In this context, we are welcoming this year Albania and Montenegro, as our new “Associated Participating Partners”.
We also welcome as new Strategic Partners Spain and Türkiye, while, at the same time, we are establishing today for the first time Terms of References for our Strategic Partners.
Dear friends,
The Three Seas Initiative is not only an alliance of states aspiring to achieve stronger connectivity in all respects. It is a family of nations that must be deeply rooted in democratic values, rule of law and a rules-based international security architecture.
April 29, 2025