Yerushalayim to Host Trilateral Summit

Israel, Greece and Cyprus will hold a trilateral summit in Yerushalayim, a follow-up to a meeting that took place in January, which they hailed as a new “strategic alliance” in the Mediterranean.

The one-day summit, set for Thursday, will be attended by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, as well as senior ministers and aides.

The issues to be discussed will reportedly include energy resources and emergency rescue cooperation.
The three countries have been engaged in talks about the feasibility of laying a gas pipeline from Israel to Cyprus, and then to Greece for export further on in Europe, and that will presumably be on the agenda at this week’s summit. Israel also has options to export gas to Turkey or Egypt, a source of concern to Greece and Cyprus, who fear being cut out of a future deal.

In January, the three leaders stressed in a joint declaration that their new alliance was not intended to harm the interests of Egypt and Turkey and was not meant to exclude them from regional cooperation.