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Israel's Netanyahu meets Greece's Tsipras over bilateral cooperation

Xinhua, January 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and six of his ministers for talks on bilateral cooperation in defense, energy, innovation, and tourism on Wednesday.

The meeting was part of an ongoing effort to strength relations between the three Mediterranean neighboring countries -- Israel, Greece and Cyprus. On Thursday, Tsipras and Netanyahu will both leave for a trilateral summit in Nicosia with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office released a statement saying the prime ministers and their ministers signed cooperation agreements on shipping, water, and work visas for young people, and will continue the talks Thursday in Cyprus.

The Greek delegation arrived within the framework of government-to-government (G2G) consultation meetings between Israel and Greece, amidst rapid growth in the bilateral relations.

"Greece and Israel have greatly upgraded the scope and the diversity of cooperation, and in this G2G meeting we will take further steps to strengthen this partnership in diplomacy, defense, cyber security, counter-terrorism, economics, trade, energy and innovation," Netanyahu said in a statement following the meeting.

He said that the ministers will discuss the possibilities of using Israel's newly found off-shore natural gas fields, and connecting Israel, Cyprus and Greece with an electricity cable. Endit