“Defence cooperation between Greece and Israel has become systematic over the last years – particularly during the last three years – through military cooperation programmes. I would like to state that we concluded with particular satisfaction the qualitative and quantitative upgrade of these programmes. These means that our Armed Forces have exchanged valuable operational and instructional experiences and have achieved a high level of interoperability.
The fact that the two countries’ Armed Forces have structured a relationship of mutual trust and respect is equally important, if not more. So we are building with Israel a pillar of stability in cooperation with Cyprus and the other moderate countries of Middle East.
We concluded that there are more possibilities of expansion of our defence relations: in cooperation and joint training, in countering cyber-threats, in the methods of protecting critical infrastructures and of course in the essential field of enhancing our defence – technical cooperation, promoted through joint cooperation and our defence industry.
The two peoples’ relations, Greek and Hebrew, have been literally forged in “fire and iron”, during hard times. We have both suffered the same ravages, we have cooperated and helped each other many times through our history and we have proven to each other our reliability and friendship.
Based on these relationships and values we are building a brighter future for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, a region where security is put at risk due to numerous crises and threats, many of which exceed the capabilities of state entities and which can be countered only through substantial cooperation at a regional and international level.
Of course we are ready to host the tripartite meeting of the Ministers of Defence of Greece, Cyprus and Israel, expecting crucial results and I would like to state that it is particularly important to expand our cooperation to the field of energy by creating energy routes which will be able to link the Middle East to Europe”.
