Greece-Cyprus-Israel summit in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM

The 6th Trilateral Greece-Greek Cyprus-Israel Summit, with the participation of the United States, began in Jerusalem on March 20 afternoon to advance energy and security in the eastern Mediterranean.

Attending the summit were Greek Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades, the Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras and the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

A presidency statement by Greek Cyprus said Anastasiades was accompanied by Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides, Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis and Government Spokesman Prodromos Prodromou.

On the sidelines of the summit, Anastasiades was expected to hold bilateral meetings with Netanyahu and Pompeo.

Issues on the agenda included energy security and regional developments.

The U.S. State Department said Pompeo, while in Jerusalem as part of his visit to Lebanon and Kuwait, would “also participate in a meeting with Israeli, Cypriot, and Greek leaders to discuss key energy and security issues facing the Eastern Mediterranean region.”

Pompeo was expected to hold bilateral contacts with the three leaders. This was expected to be followed by a meeting of all four together which will later include delegations.

During their December Summit of last year, the leaders of Greece, Cyprus and Israel had pledged readiness to proceed with an interstate agreement concerning the EastMed pipeline while the U.S. had also expressed support to the project, through its Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.