With clear “red lines” and a willingness to keep communication channels open with Turkey, Kyriakos Mitsotakis travels to Ankara next Wednesday for his first meeting in a year and a half with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, within the framework of the Greece-Turkey High-Level Cooperation Council session.
Mitsotakis-Erdoğan meeting: What Athens brings to the table on EEZ and continental shelf
Speaking to Foreign Policy about the upcoming meeting, the Prime Minister reiterated that with Turkey there is one and only difference: the delimitation of EEZ and continental shelf, sending a message to the other side. At the same time, he appeared cautiously optimistic, commenting that he does not see significant reasons for escalation in Greek-Turkish relations, noting that no new source of instability will emerge in bilateral relations. “If one looks back to where we were four or five years ago, the situation then was clearly more complex than it is today. I believe that we are both experienced leaders, referring to myself and President Erdoğan. We recognize that in our broader region there are already enough problems, there is no reason to add degrees of complexity,” the Prime Minister said.
In this climate and pending the upcoming meeting with the Turkish President, government sources noted that Kyriakos Mitsotakis is traveling to Ankara with the goal of maintaining and strengthening open communication channels and establishing a functional relationship with Turkey, amid an international climate of instability and uncertainty. In this context, the Greek side approaches the dialogue with confidence, always taking into account International Law (something the Turkish side systematically ignores) and without any willingness whatsoever to retreat on issues of national sovereignty.
The goal is to establish a functional relationship with the neighbor without any willingness to retreat on issues of national sovereignty
Although at this stage there appears to be no convergence for starting discussions regarding the settlement of our only difference that can be brought before international jurisdiction, namely the delimitation of continental shelf and EEZ in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean, Athens looks forward to maintaining the climate of calm in bilateral relations, which has led to significant achievements over the past two and a half years.
Such as, for example, the reduction of airspace violations, better cooperation with Turkey on migration and overall reduction of flows, facilitation of short-term visa issuance for Turkish citizens and their families to 12 Aegean islands, and deepening of bilateral trade.
India’s bet: AI, investments and strategic cooperation
While the trip to Ankara generates low expectations, Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s travel cycle continues according to plan on February 19, with a trip to New Delhi in India, where expectations are high.
Mr. Mitsotakis will speak at the international “AI Impact Summit” conference on artificial intelligence, in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is a topic the Prime Minister has highlighted, expressing the government’s commitment to the goal of making Greece a protagonist in the AI sector and not a laggard. This includes efforts being implemented with a global AI giant like OpenAI, showing that the country is claiming a position on the global artificial intelligence map.
The EU-India agreement and what it means for Greek exports
Mr. Mitsotakis’s visit to New Delhi takes place in the aftermath of the colossal EU-India agreement, which required almost twenty years of negotiations to complete and has great significance for European exporters, including Greeks, as it provides for tariff reductions on over 90% of European products. Regarding Greece, the tariffs that India applies to olive oil, which today can reach up to 45%, will be eliminated under this agreement. This specific agreement is estimated to open the way for opportunities in European – and Greek – agri-food products, with large tariff reductions and savings of up to 4 billion euros annually for European exporters.
It is noted that National Defense Minister Nikos Dendias is already in India, following an invitation from his Indian counterpart, Rajnath Singh. It is recalled that in August 2023, Narendra Modi had made an official visit to the Maximos Mansion, discussing with the Greek Prime Minister the prospects for upgrading the strategic Greece-India relationship, laying the foundations for a very broad framework of bilateral cooperation, from economy and defense to culture and tourism as well as cooperation in the agricultural sector. Additionally, the goal was set to double bilateral trade with India within the next four years, in which the Prime Minister had identified significant room for improvement.
Published in Apogeumatini
