Egypt's Sisi arrives in Greece for 9th Tripartite Summit

Egyptian President Abdel fattah Al-Sisi has arrived in Athens where he will participate in the ninth Tripartite Summit with his Greek and Cypriot counterparts.

The summit is designed to strengthen relations between the three countries particularly in the field of energy and the environment.

The meeting comes less than a week after Greece and Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding for an undersea cable to transmit renewable power from North Africa to Europe, which will pass through their Exclusive Economic Zones.

Greece’s Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas said that the project will help the Eastern Mediterranean, the topic that has tied the two countries for months into a strategic partnership.

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In November last year Al-Sisi visited Greek officials in Athens on his first visit to the country since they signed a maritime agreement over boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean.

The agreement set out exclusive economic zones for drilling for gas and oil.

The two countries have continued to discuss the East Mediterranean, and in a phone call in March they discussed bilateral relations with a focus on this area and cooperation over security and the economy.

At the same time, Turkey and Greece have been trying to resolve their standoff over border and energy rights in the area, and their conflicting territorial claims.