Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba and Nikos Dendias on November 26, 2021.

There was a great deal of room for Greek-Gabonese cooperation in matters relating to the international law of the sea and maritime communications security, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said on Friday after a meeting with Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba.

“It was for me a great joy and a great honour to be the first Greek minister to visit the country,” Dendias said after the meeting.

He reported a very interesting discussion with President Ondimba on possible areas of cooperation with Greece, including the protection of the environment.

Dendias pointed out that Gabon has a great many forests that it protects and a large population of elephants that are also protected.

They also discussed investments and assistance from Greece in tackling COVID-19, such as the 200,000 vaccine shots from the Greek government that Dendias delivered to the African country earlier on Friday.

The minister said he had also conveyed an invitation from President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou inviting her counterpart to visit Greece.

“Relations between Greece and Gabon are emerging relations but we have a great interest in a fertile mutual ground to develop these relations,” Dendias said.

The Greek Foreign Minister noted that Gabon has been elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council from 2022 with the support of Greece.

Meanwhile, in a bilateral meeting with the country’s Minister of Forests, Oceans, Environment and Climate Change Lee White, Dendias was briefed on the impact of climate change on security issues in Africa, migration flows and access to basic goods.

Dendias stressed that Greece pays special attention to the issue of climate change, which also affects the country, and makes efforts to address it, the ministry said.

The two ministers discussed the prospects of Greece-Gabon cooperation, especially in matters concerning the protection of the marine environment.

Broad cooperation with African countries is part of the European countries’ strategy to better understand the security challenges of climate change, the ministry added.

READ MORE: Dendias signs MoU with Gabonese counterpart.