Promising start to Greece-US strategic dialogue
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
The first US-Greece Strategic Dialogue taking place in Washington was launched on a positive note, diplomatic sources said on Thursday. Discussions were particularly fruitful, the sources continued, and have already covered matters related to the economy, regional interest issues, as well as defense and security.
Heading the Greek delegation was Alternate Foreign Minister George Katrougalos, while Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wes Mitchell represented the United Stated. The dialogue will be concluded on Thursday afternoon (local time), after a meeting between Katrougalos and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
At the opening of the dialogue, the US side stressed that “ the strategic cooperation between the two countries has increased rapidly in the last few years,” and referred to 2018 as “ the best year in the recent history of US-Greek relations.” Greece’s important strategic role in the sensitive area of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, where the US has a growing strategic interest, was also repeatedly pointed out.
From his side, Katrougalos underlined the importance of the strategic relation between Greece and the US as allied equals, in the context of the dynamic and multi-faceted foreign policy that Greece is implementing.
He went on to talk about the establishment of Greece as an energy, commercial and transport hub in the region, and said that new prospects of economic cooperation between the two countries are opening up, on which the two sides need to capitalise.
The discussion also covered areas of defense cooperation and issues of regional interest such as the current developments in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Concerning the Balkans, Mitchell reiterated that the US supports the Prespes Agreement fully, calling it “ the greatest diplomatic success in the region in the last decades.”
