Political consultations between officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Greece and Israel were held in Athens on Wednesday. Ambassador Anastassis Mitsialis met with his Israeli counterpart Nissim Ben Shitrit.

The two sides reviewed progress achieved in their bilateral relations in various fields of cooperation since the 1st High Level Cooperation Council of October 8, 2013, and discussed the preparation of a second G-2-G to be held in Athens in 2015, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Greece and Israel. They confirmed their willingness to further enhance their rapidly growing economic relations to reflect the excellent level of bilateral political relations. It was therefore agreed that acceleration of cooperation should be promoted in fields such as trade, tourism, industrial research and development, water technologies, environmental protection and agriculture. Greece and Israel also confirmed their common interest in pursuing cooperation in the crucial field of energy.

The two sides also discussed their cooperation in multilateral matters and exchanged views on regional and international issues including developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, as well as the terrorist threat at regional and global level.

The two men were subsequently joined by their Cypriot counterpart, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, Ambassador Alexandros Zenon, for a session of trilateral political consultations. The three sides agreed to further promote trilateral political consultations and expand dialogue to all levels, with a view to contributing to the consolidation of regional peace, stability, security and prosperity. They confirmed their willingness to promote their economic relations and to strengthen their cooperation in the field of energy, including by building on the trilateral Memorandum of Understanding signed in Nicosia on 8 August 2013 by the Ministers of Energy of Greece, Israel and Cyprus.

The three sides discussed regional and international issues in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, expressed concern for illegal actions and provocations in the sea waters of the Eastern Mediterranean in violation of international law and expressed concern for the proliferation of terrorism at regional and global level.

They also agreed that they should meet on a regular basis to further discuss these issues and enhance their cooperation. In this respect Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Evangelos Venizelos invited the Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides to a trilateral meeting to be held in Athens in the next few weeks.