Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel speaks at the at the “Energy Transition Summit: East Med & Southeast Europe” in Athens, organized by the Financial Times in partnership with Kathimerini.
Plans for a new global trade route linking Europe with India through the Middle East offer huge economic potential and a promise of stability in a region battered by strife, senior Greek and Israeli diplomats said Wednesday.
Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandra Papadopoulou and her Israeli counterpart, Sharren Haskel, both praised the potential benefits of the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, or IMEC.
They spoke at the “Energy Transition Summit: East Med & Southeast Europe” in Athens, organized by the Financial Times in partnership with Kathimerini.
“[IMEC] is the real long-term certificate for stability in the region,” Papadopoulou said. “IMEC is the project that really encompasses regional integration … [It] will change the whole region from India all the way to Europe.”
Haskel said Israel sees enormous potential and opportunities in the project.
“I think it’s going to be huge,” she said. “I mean, everybody are researching now alternative routes as well. Israel sees itself as a key partner in IMEC.”
The two deputy ministers also stressed the closeness of ties between Greece and Israel.
“I think there’s a huge potential for a continuation of collaboration, whether it is on the security side, the economical side, whether it is business-to-business, but specifically on infrastructures and energy,” Haskel said. “And I think our relationship goes also thousands of years back. These are two ancient civilizations that have shared so much with the world as well.”
Papadopoulou said the bilateral relationship has survived a string of different Greek governments.
“So it … has the approval of … the full spectrum, or a big part of the spectrum of the Greek political leaders, which is a guarantee exactly for the duration and the stability of this relationship,” she said. “We can serve as a good example of close cooperation between two countries that share similar goals and similar objectives about stability, peace, and prosperity in the entire region.”
