Greece sees its future as an exporter of green energy and is working with Egypt on plans to build renewable energy infrastructure and connections with Africa, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said from Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, where he is participating in the International Conference on climate-COP27.

In an interview on Bloomberg TV, he said that in the short term, Greece will extend its use of coal for two to three years, but has not given up on plans to move away from pollutant fossil fuels.

“We want to become a clean exporter of green electricity in central Europe,” he said. “We are in discussions with the Egyptians. We are promoting a very ambitious 3 gigawatt cable that will connect Africa to Greece and, of course, to have a 3 gigawatt cable, we need 10 gigawatts of installed renewable energy.”