The meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, at Megaro Maximos in Athens is underway.
The heir to the throne of Saudi Arabia is accompanied by a large government delegation as well as a 30-member business delegation for contact with Greek businesses.
This is Mohammed bin Salman’s first visit to European soil since April 2018, which reflects the importance Saudi Arabia attaches to relations with Greece – as a pillar of security and stability in the region.
The agenda of Mohammed bin Salman’s important visit includes key agreements and investments and highlights the strategic nature of Greece-Saudi relations confirmed during the Prime Minister’s official visit to Riyadh in October 2021.
The strategic character of relations has also been sealed by Greece’s contribution to the defence of Saudi Arabia by sending a Patriot array, a move that has been appreciated by Riyadh, as announced during Mitsotakis’ visit to the Saudi capital – a visit during which it was agreed to establish a Supreme Cooperation Council of the two countries.
The strategic nature of the relations is in the context of the government’s strategy for the formation of a network of alliances with the Gulf countries and will be officially sealed at the Maximos Palace with the signing of an agreement to establish a Strategic Cooperation Council, which will solidify the cooperation of the two countries by sectors.
Mohammed bin Salman is accompanied by a large government delegation – among them the investment, trade, communications, and technology ministers and the head of the sovereign wealth fund (PIF) – whose members will sign and exchange agreements with their Greek counterparts.
Among the agreements to be signed between the Greek ministers and their Saudi counterparts are a military cooperation agreement, an energy cooperation agreement, as Greece becomes a hub for energy transfer to Europe and can be a bridge with the Middle East, an agreement on science and technology, harmony in culture.
Of particular importance is the agreement to be signed by the four companies leading the EMC project (STC, TTSA, PPC, and Cyta), so that the project of the “East to Med data Corridor” (EMC), the submarine and terrestrial cable interconnection for the data transfer between Asia and Europe via Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, and Greece, to be implemented from next autumn. This is a project that essentially upgrades the position of our country as a hub for the storage and distribution of data in the region of south-eastern Europe, bringing tangible economic and geostrategic benefits.
The proposal for the construction of the EMC was first put by the Greek side to Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in the context of the visit of Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Riyadh, in October 2021, where it was agreed to proceed with the project. The first signatures were signed last April, while the preliminary conditions were approved at the end of May, during the work of the 5th Joint Interministerial Committee of Greece – Saudi Arabia in Athens.
Athens’ goal is direct investments from Saudi Arabia in Greece, cooperation in new sectors, as well as a stronger presence of Greek businesses in Saudi Arabia.
