Greek PM Mitsotakis to meet crown prince during official visit to Saudi Arabia

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will go to Saudi Arabia on Oct. 25 in an extra signal of the warming ties between two nations. 

Mitsotakis will take part within the Center East Inexperienced Initiative and within the Future Funding Initiative, and can meet with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman throughout his two-day go to.

The crown prince unveiled the MGI in March, alongside its home counterpart, the Saudi Inexperienced Initiative, as pillars of the Kingdom’s efforts to reverse environmental degradation and local weather change. 

A part of the Kingdom’s Imaginative and prescient 2030 to reshape its economic system, each initiatives present an formidable roadmap for Saudi Arabia and the area to fulfill worldwide emissions targets. 

Greece, in the meantime, can be taking an lively position in combating local weather change, selling “inexperienced diplomacy” each throughout the EU and the broader area.

The 2 nations have turn out to be shut not too long ago, sharing a standard imaginative and prescient on stability within the Jap Mediterranean and the Gulf. 

Mitsotakis’ first go to to Saudi Arabia got here in February 2020, a number of months after he took over as prime minister. He additionally met with Saudi International Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on the Philia Discussion board in Athens in February this yr.

Bilateral ties have deepened notably within the area of protection, with the deployment of a Greek Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, or PAC-2, to Saudi Arabia in September to spice up the Kingdom’s position in combating Houthi rebels in Yemen. 

As well as, 120 Greek troopers are stationed in Saudi Arabia to function it, whereas the PAC-2 is ready to be upgraded to the PAC-3 system in the end. The heads of the nations’ joint common staffs have additionally developed shut and frequent contacts.

“The deepening of Greek-Saudi relations is of strategic significance for each nations in addition to for your complete Jap Mediterranean-Center East regional complicated,” Prof. Michael Tanchum, senior fellow on the Austrian Institute for European and Safety Coverage and a non-resident fellow on the Center East Institute in Washington, D.C., instructed Arab Information. 

“2021 has witnessed landmark occasions elevating the extent of the Greek-Saudi safety partnership, notably Saudi Arabia’s first bilateral army train with Greece, ‘Eye of the Falcon 1,’ in March 2021, and the Kingdom’s participation within the September 2021 ‘Hercules 21’ workout routines — the primary multilateral joint army workout routines between Greece, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. 

“Within the absence of a convincing safety assure from its European companions, Athens has skillfully developed its protection relations with Egypt, Israel, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, whereas participating with choose EU member states to realize a ample deterrence functionality,” he stated. 

“Athens equally must deepen its financial relations with every of those nations to create a sturdy Mediterranean-Center East business hall … that may even lengthen from Israel and the Gulf states to India,” he added. “Elevating the extent of the Greek-Saudi enterprise relationship, leading to large-scale investments in every nation, is the subsequent step and is probably going a excessive precedence agenda merchandise for Prime Minister Mitsotakis’ upcoming state go to to Saudi Arabia.”

Prof. Spyros Litsas from the College of Macedonia stated: “The brand new official go to of the Greek premier … should be seen as one other decisive step in the direction of the development of a strategic triangle of safety and stability within the Arabian Gulf, with Athens, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi forming its associated sturdy angles — particularly after the signature of the mutual protection cooperation and help pact between Greece and the UAE, and the (deployment) of the Greek PAC-2 to Saudi Arabia.

“It goes with out saying that the development of this triangle of safety and stability is of paramount significance for the dynamic deterrence of radical teams and revisionist states too within the post-COVID-19 period, whereas it additionally enhances the geostrategic position of Greece, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as regional pillars of sensible protection and cooperation,” he added.

Bilateral ties, although, are usually not confined to protection, and are blossoming in tourism, tradition and funding.

At a gathering on Might 20, Saudi Arabia’s tradition minister, Prince Badr bin Farhan, met the President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou in Athens to debate a memorandum on worldwide cooperation in tradition, which can be signed later this yr in Riyadh. 

In September, tourism, funding and commerce topped the agenda of talks between Greek Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias and Saudi Minister of Funding Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Fatih through the latter’s go to to the Greek capital. Al-Fatih additionally met with Greece’s investments and growth minister, Adonis Georgiadis.