The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos, during his visit in Abu Dhabi, where he will attend the official opening ceremony for the International Defence Exhibition and Conference IDEX 2015, had a personal meeting with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with whom he discussed about the whole spectrum of the bilateral relations between Greece and United Arab Emirates in a particularly friendly tone.
Mr. Kammenos conveyed to the Crown Prince in Abu Dhabi the warm greetings of the Greek Prime Minister Mr. Alexis Tsipras and assured him that the Greek government looks forward to continuing and further enhancing and widening the cooperation with the United Arab Emirates in all sectors.
From his side, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, welcoming the Minister of National Defence, asked him to convey his warm greetings to the Greek Prime Minister Mr. Tsipras and expressed his satisfaction for the positive results of the session of yesterday’s Eurogroup. Ha also assured him that it is also a wish of the UAE to reinforce the bilateral cooperation with Greece since there are many common interests between the two countries.
He particularly stressed UAE’s interest to reinforce the UAE Defence Industry with Greek experts who could move to Abu Dhabi, as well as his interest to widen the cooperation with the Hellenic Defence Industry for the maintenance of UAE’s aircraft given the great experience and expertise that Greece has gained in this field.
They agreed upon the creation of a joint committee to consider the cooperation capabilities of the two countries in the military sector and especially in training and military exercises. They exchanged views on regional and international matters of common interest emphasizing on the developments in Libya, Syria and Iraq as well as on combating terrorism and extremism, on which they confirmed a coincidence of views.
They underlined the significant role that Egypt plays for peace and stability in the wider region of the Middle East and for the need to support the government of President El-Sisi.
They also discussed about the cooperation in the field of Renewable Energy Resources and the Crown Prince embraced the proposal made by the Minister of National Defence according to which a Greek island could be transformed into a pilot model in the field of Renewable Energy. The project will be prepared by Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi in which study also Greek grantholders.
The Minister of National Defence invited the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to pay an official visit to Greece, which Sheikh Mohammed gladly accepted, expressing the hope that he will visit Greece soon.
The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi thanked the Minister of National Defence for attending the International Defence Exhibition and Conference IDEX 2015, as well as for the participation of Greek companies in the commercial department of the Exhibition.
Mr. Kammenos, from his side, stated that his presence in the Exhibition and Greece’s participation for the first time with a national stand underlines that importance that Greece attributes to this international defence event, one of the greatest events worldwide.
During his stay in Abu Dhabi, Mr. Kammenos visited also the green Masdar city which is a model city without any gas emissions or wastes and which hosts the offices of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
The Greek Minister was guided through the city by the Greek professor Dr. Sgouris Sgouridis, as well as through sites of the Masdar Institute where he had the opportunity to meet with Greek grantholders who briefed him about the course and the subject of their post-graduate studies.
The Minister of National Defence asked the Greek professor as well as the Greek students of Masdar Institute to utilize their expertise gained in the Institute, to apply Renewable Energy technologies in Greece, stating that the Ministry of National Defence is ready to support similar projects.
