A meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Greece, France , Egypt and Cyprus will be hosted at one o'clock in the afternoon in Athens.
This meeting takes place following previous consultations and the regular coordination between the countries in the framework of the "3 +1" scheme.
At 11:00, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will receive his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, who at 10:00 will meet with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Maximos Palace.
During the quadripartite meeting of Foreign Ministers Nikos Dendias, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Sameh Shoukry and Nikos Christodoulides, they will examine developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, Libya, the Gulf, the Sahel and the Cyprus issue.
Energy co-operation will also be discussed, as well as international challenges such as pandemics, climate change and migration.
Statements to the press are scheduled to take place around 15:30.
The last meeting of this "3 + 1" group took place online in May 2020, with the participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Highlighting the importance of the multilateral cooperation schemes from Cyprus last Tuesday, together with his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Dendias said that the aim is to examine the challenges for regional peace, security and prosperity, based on common values of International Law and the Law of the Sea.
In particular, he said, "they aim to strengthen cooperation, interconnection in areas such as energy and transport, areas necessary for economic growth. And always with a fixed denominator and factor: respect for the principles of International Law."
In fact, addressing Turkey, Dendias said that these schemes are not intended to encircle it, they are not intended to exclude it, but are open to all, with one and inviolable condition: respect for international law.
In a similar spirit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulidis pointed out that, "on the basis of a positive approach and without zero-sum approaches, we work with other like-minded states in the wider region to prevail conditions of security, cooperation and stability."
He considers as very important and positive that this effort is collective and is recognised by not only states in the region but also by international actors who show a special interest in the data in the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East.
In this context, he assured that "we are working, as the EU Member States in the region, to highlight the need for more active and more substantial involvement of the Union in the region."
The quadripartite meeting will be preceded by the meeting of Dendias with Le Drian, which will take place at the Foreign Ministry at 11:00.
The one-on-one meeting will be followed by extended talks between the two delegations, followed by joint statements to the press around 12:30.
Talks between Dendias and Le Drian are expected to focus on the excellent bilateral relations as they were upgraded with the signing of the Greece-France Strategic Partnership Agreement, on the developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, Libya and Cyprus, as well as to strengthen multidimensional cooperation in areas of common interest.
READ MORE: Dendias to Christodoulides: Greece will assist Cyprus in resolving its issue.
