The Trilateral Meeting of the Defence Ministers of Greece, Egypt and Cyprus signals a change in the operational scale in the Southeastern Mediterranean, reflecting the further upgrading of defence relations between the three countries.

Specifically, during today’s talks in Cairo, the Defence Ministers of Greece and Cyprus, Nikos Dendias and Vasilis Palmas respectively, as well as the Minister of Defence and Military Production of the Arab Republic of Egypt and Chief of the Armed Forces of Egypt, General Ashraf Salem Zaher, praised the results achieved by the forces participating in joint military exercises, most notably Exercise “Medusa”, which contributes to strengthening operational coordination and combat readiness to deter all forms of common threats and concluded in recent days.

Rapid and unified response

Above all, however, within this framework, the parties agreed on “the importance of strengthening the frameworks of military and defence cooperation to support the collective ability for a rapid and unified response to any future developments concerning sources of threats of any kind against the three countries”, as also highlighted in the Joint Declaration, creating new conditions regarding the levels of interaction between the three countries.

At the same time, at the trilateral level, it was also agreed to “intensify communication, consultations and the exchange of information and assessments, as well as the coordination of joint capabilities in a manner proportionate to the seriousness of existing and future military threats and security challenges at regional level, as well as to hold the next meeting of the dialogue mechanism of the Defence Ministers of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Republic of Cyprus and the Hellenic Republic in Greece, within 2027”.

It is worth noting that Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias stressed that “this is yet another step in deepening Greek-Egyptian-Cypriot relations and comes as a follow-up to the highly successful trilateral summit meeting held just a few days ago in El Alamein”, adding that “Egypt is a strategic and indispensable ally for Greece and Cyprus”.

“We Greeks do not make our good relations with Egypt dependent on our relations with any other state, nor do we consider our relations with Egypt to be directed against any other state,” Mr Dendias pointedly stressed, concluding that “these are relations that are analysed and examined within the framework of mutual sincerity, a permanent and lasting commitment to respect for International Law and the International Law of the Sea, and within the framework of the agreements we have already signed with Egypt, foremost among them the agreement on the Exclusive Economic Zone, which I had the honour of signing, in my previous capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs, with the then Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. So, a very successful meeting, another step in Greek-Egyptian relations.”