The meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias concluded on Monday morning in Thessaloniki. In the meeting lasted some 45 minutes, dominant issues were of bilateral, regional and international interest, emphasis on Greece-US Strategic Dialogue, defense and energy cooperation.
The two top diplomats conducted a review of the U.S.-Greece Strategic Dialogue. “The United States and Greece reaffirm their commitment to the Strategic Dialogue as a testament to the two countries’ outstanding bilateral relationship. On the occasion of this high-level review, they confirmed their mutual desire to deepen cooperation, the Greek Foreign Ministry said in joint statement highlighting the key sectors of cooperation.
These sectors are: Regional Cooperation, Defense and Security, Law Enforcement and Counterterrorism, Trade and Investment, Energy, People-to-People ties.
On the Regional Cooperation sections, the joint statement notes that “the United States and Greece shared views on the Eastern Mediterranean and reaffirmed their belief that maritime delimitation issues should be resolved peacefully in accordance with international law.”
After the meeting Mike Pompeo posted on Twitter:
Always fantastic to see Greek Foreign Minister @nikosdendias. Today in Thessaloniki, we discussed the enduring strength of the U.S.-Greece relationship, the Western Balkans, and de-escalation of tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. pic.twitter.com/lKVV3yJjxN
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) September 28, 2020
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias:
Strategic Dialogue 🇬🇷🇺🇸, strengthening cooperation, regional developments, Eastern Mediterranean in focus – With #USA FM @SecPompeo in #Thessaloniki. pic.twitter.com/ECkCzcFIH7
— Nikos Dendias (@NikosDendias) September 28, 2020
During his visit to Thessaloniki, the US Secretary of State will also participate in a round table discussion on energy. an agreement on scientific and technological cc operation between Greece and the USA will be signed.
Pompeo’s visit in Thessaloniki will conclude with a visit to the Jewish Museum.
The Secretary of State will later travel to Crete, where he will visit the Souda Naval Base to underline the strong security partnership between the two countries.
Pompeo will meet with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who will also host him in his family home.
The high-ranking visit has symbolic significance as it comes at a time of intense diplomatic initiatives on the part of Greece due to the tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the fact that Athens and Ankara have agreed to resume exploratory contacts.
Worth noting that Pompeo breaks with the US diplomacy tradition to visit both countries when in the area.
Mike Pompeo is not scheduled to visit Turkey.
Wouldn’t it be beneficial for both, Athens and Ankara, to found a bileteral corporation for the exploration of the natural resources in the eastern Med? It would always be better then a war that would not get any party anywhere, would bring suffering to civillians on both sides!!! I am an adamant supporter of Greek Independence and condemn the expandatory behaviour of the slaughterer Erdogan, but after all we’re only talking about ecconomic and not strategic interests, a war should be avoided at all costs.
It isn’t about resources but nationalism. Erdogan is posing absurd stipulation to talks he knows Greeks will never agree to in able to claim it is the Greeks who dismissed dialogue. As for the war he seeks, it would short lived strategic with minimal civilian losses but unimaginably intense. Turkey is a dictatorship who jails their opposition journalists judges and others while violating international laws. It is lucky that Erdogan has not destroyed just its reputation and economy to effect civilians as he saber rattles and praises martyrdom to deflect from his own accountability.
It isn’t about war, the reason Erdogan wants one is to revisit Ottoman conquest and fuel his uneducated nationalistic audience while increasingly insulting and threatening the west. Hitler should have been stopped sooner too.
Most of Greece’s problems stem from US….this alliance is one-sided (comply with US)….Greece out of NATO now
“Worth noting that Pompeo breaks with the US diplomacy tradition to visit both countries when in the area.”
Also worth mentioning might be that there is no need for Pompeo to visit Turkey when Erdogan has Trump on speed dial to speak with him daily.
Trump extorts and back stabs America’s allies and even neglects American lives by the thousands for his self interests.
The Trump administration can not be Trusted.
Don’t read too much into the the theatrics of not visiting the Turkish dictatorship like good cop /bad cop. Trump is as underhanded as Germany who is not going to sanction Erdogan when their largest immigrant population are Turks. Germany with Turkey do not have the most compassionate history while no other US president has abused power so criminally as Trump.
America might be friends with Greece but Trump is not, he is an enemy to allies and his own people too.