Trump official driving energy matters in Athens

Greece’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy and Openness, Kostas Fragogiannis met with visiting United States Assistant Secretary of State for Energy, Francis Fannon in Athens on Tuesday, in the presence of US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt.

During the meeting, both sides reaffirmed the commitment of Greece and the US to further deepen their close bilateral co-operation in the energy sector.

Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Francis Fannon congratulated Greece on the forthcoming completion of the Greek section of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), on the ongoing construction work at the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, as well as on planning to improve energy interconnections with the Republic of North Macedonia.

In this context, the Greek and US delegations reaffirmed their support for diversifying export options for commercially viable eastern Mediterranean energy sources, and for enhancing regional energy security, which could include new infrastructure projects such as the East Med Pipeline and the FSRU station in the northern Greek city of Alexandroupolis.

Greece’s role as a regional hub in the supply of natural gas was also discussed, as were the prospects for US private investment in the Greek energy sector and the expansion of cooperation on renewable energy. To this end, it was noted that both sides have committed themselves to ensuring transparency and sound competition in order to further encourage investment in Greece.