“The cooperation between Greece and the United States must become even stronger and I know that it is President Biden’s intention to further deepen the Greek-American strategic relationship,” Geoffrey Pyatt, US Ambassador to Greece said.
His comments were made during the Athens Energy Dialogues on Wednesday.
Pyatt also underlined the important role Greece has played as the driver of energy security and energy diversification in Southeastern Europe.
"I think it’s very important that even during this year of the pandemic, major infrastructure projects like the TAP pipeline, the IGB pipeline with Bulgaria, the floating regassification unit in Alexandroupoli, the new gas connector between Greece and North Macedonia are all moving forward."
Regarding the telephone conversation between Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, he stressed that the Biden Administration places a "critical importance" on the "way in which the United States and Europe work together to advance our shared climate goals."
Furthermore, Pyatt underlined that the US strongly supports the PM's ambitious goal of eliminating lignite power by 2028.
“The only way you get there is by using gas as a bridge fuel, and we welcome the fact that much of that gas is not going to be pipeline gas from Russia now, but LNG from reliable suppliers around the world. So we see LNG as a critical bridge fuel,” he said.
On the topic of renewables, the ambassador said that technical and research cooperation is also vital and mentioned the cooperation between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado and Greek institutions like FORTH.
"The sky's the limit in terms of the Greek energy market...Greece has become a very important part of energy diversification in Southeastern Europe," Pyatt said in his concluding remarks.
*More on GCT: Greece-US relations will strengthen during Joe Biden’s Presidency, says Greek President
