US-Greece Strategic Dialogue cements relationship

Greece’s Alternate Foreign Minister George Katrougalos, has concluded talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wes Mitchell as part of the first US-Greece Strategic Dialogue in Washington this Thursday.

According to Greek government sources the discussions were particularly fruitful, and covered matters related to the economy, regional interest issues, as well as defence and security.

At the opening of the dialogue, the US side stressed that “the strategic cooperation between the two countries has increased rapidly in the last few years,” and referred to 2018 as “ the best year in the recent history of US-Greek relations.” Greece’s important strategic role in the sensitive area of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, where the US has a growing strategic interest, was also repeatedly pointed out.

From his side, Katrougalos underlined the importance of the strategic relation between Greece and the US as allied equals, in the context of the dynamic and multi-faceted foreign policy that Greece is implementing.

He went on to talk about the establishment of Greece as an energy, commercial and transport hub in the region, and said that new prospects of economic cooperation between the two countries are opening up, on which the two sides need to capitalise.

The discussion also covered areas of defence cooperation and issues of regional interest such as the current developments in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Concerning the Balkans, Mitchell reiterated that the US supports the Prespes Agreement fully, calling it “the greatest diplomatic success in the region in the last decades.”