Address by the Minister of National Defence, Mr. P. Beglitis, on the relations between Greece and Israel to the Permanent Committee of National Defence and Foreign Affairs

The development and consolidation of our relations with Israel constitutes a strategic choice for our Government. I would like to inform you that along with my counterpart, the Minister of Defence of Israel, we will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the development of military, strategic, defensive, technological and business relations. We will also sign a state-to-state agreement of defence and military cooperation, mainly in the fields of defence industry and defence armament, as we have already stated before the Parliament and the competent Committee. We all attach a lot of importance to the relations with Israel as regards our national interests. However, at this point, I would like to stress before the Permanent Committee of National Defence and Foreign Affairs that further developing our relations with Israel will not at all affect the development and consolidation of our traditional relations with the Arab world or Turkey.

We do not act impulsively when it comes to our foreign policy or our country’s national defence. We believe that further developing our relations with all active agents of the wider area will contribute to peace, stability and security. These are our wider strategic objectives: peace, security and stability in our area. Through implementation of these three objectives, Greece will be able both to develop and defend its national interests and policies, in an extremely difficult and critical period.