Greece and Israel signed a bilateral agreement aiming to promote regional energy stability, the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy said on Monday, December 23.
The agreement, the first of its kind on energy issues, also includes innovative energy projects in the Eastern Mediterranean and the European Union and is initially valid for five years. It was signed in Athens by Greek Energy Minister Theodoros Skylakakis and his Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, during the latter’s scheduled visit to Greece.
The agreement “confirms the long-term relationship and collaboration between Israel and Greece,” Skylakakis said, adding that it is a landmark in the collaboration of the two countries in terms of energy as “both Greece and Israel face the impacts of the climate crisis.”
The Greek Energy Minister noted that “The creation of a ‘green’ corridor of electric energy from Israel to the European Union via Greece will comprise a project of strategic importance for the Eastern Mediterranean region.”
Among other things, the agreement describes cooperation on strategic infrastructure, the development and regulation of renewable energy sources, and the promotion of advanced technologies in the energy sector. A working group will be established to implement its provisions in practice.
It has been reported that the agreement was expected to focus on the Greece-Cyprus-Israel electrical interconnection project (Great Sea Interconnector), which has been facing delays.
The agreement was due to have been signed in November, but Israel canceled at the last minute, citing a cabinet meeting on the ceasefire with Hezbollah as the reason.
Greece, Israel and Cyprus: a deepening alliance
This week’s energy agreement between Greece and Israel is the latest sign of the deepening ties between the two countries, which along with Cyprus, have agreed to deepen their alliance in the Eastern Mediterranean with a particular emphasis on energy and security.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides, and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu met in the context of the latest Trilateral Summit in September 2023.
The three countries were poised to finalize an energy deal that will include a mammoth electricity project connecting their power grids, and a potential future regional natural gas pipeline between the eastern Mediterranean allies. The 2,000-megawatt undersea cable will be the world’s longest and deepest underwater electricity cable, crossing the Mediterranean seabed and bridging Asia and Europe.
“The partnership between our three countries becomes stronger with each passing year,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Nicosia, where the summit took place.
Christodoulides said that the three countries agree that given Russian aggression in Ukraine and the need for energy diversification “We should advance the numerous prospects of developing a reliable energy corridor between like-minded countries linking the Eastern Mediterranean basin to Europe.”
Mitsotakis said that Greece, Cyprus, and Israel represent pillars of stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and added that “the trilateral partnership has stood the test of time and has demonstrated its benefits on both political and economic levels, as well as in other areas.”