The Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos will be visiting Israel on Wednesday where he will meet President Simon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Avramopoulos will later visit the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas and his Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Maliki.
The visit comes at a time where Greek and Israeli relations have stalled, due to the recent elections in Israel. The recent developments in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean though have meant that the common ministerial council between the two countries could take place sooner rater than later. Even though Israel and Turkey are on speaking terms, it appears unlikely that the strategic trust between the two countries will ever be restored.
Israel has also expressed an interest in expanding the bilateral relations, with an emphasis on huge investment and finance projects (such as agricultural production, desalinization etc). So far Israelis have not invested in any of the privatizations in Greek, however the lucrative energy market might change this.
Israel and Cyprus have come to an agreement of cooperation on exploiting the natural gas fields that transcending their borders and exclusive economic zones. As soon as the studies in the Aegean are complete, Greece will able to proceed with similar deals. Israeli firms have already expressed an interest, however there have been no developments.
