Statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, to the newspaper ‘Parapolitika’ and journalist Kostas Papachlimintzos (11 January 2020)
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s visit to the U.S. and his meeting with President Trump, with whom he had very warm, substantial and sincere talks, fully confirmed the U.S. leadership’s belief that Greece is a trusted and firm geostrategic partner of the U.S. and an anchor of stability in the turbulent region of the Southeastern Mediterranean.
The close Greek-U.S. collaboration in a number of sectors, prominent among which is defence – as attested to by the amended Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement that my colleague Mike Pompeo and I signed in Athens – but also economic cooperation and tangible American support for the major peace and development project that is the EastMed pipeline, confirms our shared vision for strengthening stability and security in our region.
In this context, we made it clear – and the U.S. fully recognised – that Greece is part of the solution to the region’s geopolitical challenges, and not part of the problem.
But mainly, the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington reaffirmed that Greece, emerging from the crisis, is returning with confidence as a factor for stability in the Southeastern Mediterranean, ready to write a new chapter in its history.
January 11, 2020