“Our country has an important geographical position, we are between three continents”
“Yesterday’s (Wednesday 12/11) development is very positive,” said the Minister of Environment and Energy. Stavros Papastavrouregarding the announcements made by Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Nikos Christodoulidis for the Greece-Cyprus electrical interconnection.
It is recalled that on Wednesday, in the context of the work of the 3rd Athens-Nicosia intergovernmental meeting, the Prime Minister stated, among other things: “We have decided to proceed with updating the technical parameters of the interconnection project of the two countries, so that it can be strengthened with the entry of new, powerful investors, which is to the benefit of all of us.”
Then, Stavros Papastavrou, speaking on Thursday, November 13 at the Open, explained that “in geopolitics, especially in this period, the developments “run” at a very high speed and there are no gaps, in geopolitics there is no gap. When Europe and America decide that “we will become dependent on Russian natural gas”, a gateway must be found. It will be found. The question is which country will “run” quickly and decisively to be the gateway country. This is what Greece did.”
“The growth conditions are very great”
“There was a very big meeting last week where we had 80 American officials, but also 25 energy ministers from around the world. So there it was confirmed that there is a wider interest in connections in the Eastern Mediterranean, from both sides of the Atlantic, and not only from Europe and America, but from the Gulf countries and Israel. Why? Because the world “runs” and connections, trade routes, acquire a very high value. There is a very important trade route which goes by the name of IMEC and aims to bring the products of India to Europe. It passes through the Arab world and then Israel-Cyprus-Greece-Europe. There, therefore, conditions of wider interest were created for the connection between Greece-Cyprus, Cyprus-Israel and so it was decided by the two heads of the need to update the financial and technical data and to finish all the outstanding issues”. he added himself.
Asked if this project will have results in the daily lives of citizens, Stavros Papastavrou replied that “some things are not just pocket money. As for the Greece-Cyprus electrical interconnection, for Greece it is not and could never be just a pocket. But the interconnection Cyprus-Israel but also Israel-Arab world-India, that is a lot of pocket. Why India’s commercial products find a gateway to Europe. (…) If we strengthen the connections in the Eastern Mediterranean, India will see this route as the safest for its products and this means a lot of growth for our country, for our ports, for a number of new jobs. India has a manufactured wealth which, if channeled to Europe and through Greece -not in competition with Italy and France-, this creates very large growth conditions».
“Great interest from American companies”
The Minister of Environment and Energy underlined that there was interest from American companies. “We are in an investigation phase. The Americans, as well as those who want to invest in a long-term project, want the numbers, they want the data, they want to understand what, how, where. However, this project has a wider – as I pointed out – geopolitical dimension, which operates multidimensionally. Essentially, it connects the Eastern Mediterranean, an area that the American leadership wants to strengthen right now.”
“When we started and went to Texas last year in May, if you had asked me that in six months the two largest listed oil companies in the world would choose Greece as their first priority and partner, I would have told you at that moment “we are fighting for it, we want it, I can’t guarantee it”.
“I think so our country has an important geographical position, we are between three continents and American law says that, where American natural gas passes throughfrom where American companies invest, no one is touching“, added Stavros Papastavrou.