U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Diplomacy Robin L. Dunnigan visited Greece this week to speak at the Athens Energy Forum and to meet with officials at the Ministry of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy, as well as public and private energy companies in Greece.

During her meetings with Greek government counterparts, Deputy Assistant Secretary Dunnigan said the United States hoped to continue its strong bilateral cooperation to strengthen Greek and European Union energy security.  She discussed progress on key energy infrastructure projects in Greece, such as the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (IGB), underscoring U.S. support for these projects.

She emphasized the importance of continued U.S. and EU cooperation to help improve the energy situation in Ukraine, including by maintaining coordinated sanctions on Russia’s energy sector and by facilitating reverse flow shipments of gas to Ukraine from Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, which helped prevent a gas crisis in Ukraine during this past winter.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Dunnigan, who represents the Bureau of Energy Resources at the U.S. Department of State, reaffirmed that the United States remains committed to helping Europe both address short-term energy supply vulnerabilities and take action to diversify energy sources and supplies.  She applauded the EU’s Energy Union Strategy, goals for interconnection of gas and electrical grids, and efforts to increase the role of renewables in Europe’s energy mix.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Dunnigan also emphasized the importance for Greece and the EU of completing the Southern Gas Corridor without delay.  She stressed the need to focus on projects that make commercial sense and decrease regional dependence on a single supplier.