Greece, Greek Cyprus and Egypt will hold a trilateral summit in the Egyptian city of El Alamein on Sept. 8, with regional developments and the Mecca pact expected to be among the issues on the agenda, media reports have said.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides will travel to the Egyptian city at the invitation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the reports said.
Asked whether the Mecca agreement would also be discussed, Christodoulides said: “Certainly, developments in the region — I do not want to speak on behalf of Egypt, some relevant statements have been made — certainly all developments in the region will be discussed.”
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement was signed by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye in August. Egypt has recently been reported to be considering joining the alliance, while Türkiye has said the agreement remains open to other countries in the region.
Speaking to the reports in Thessaloniki on Sept. 6, Mitsotakis said he planned to visit Saudi Arabia soon and that the Mecca deal changes nothing in Greece’s relations with Riyadh.
The Greek premier also said that Athens will press ahead with its strategic defense cooperation with Israel but also wants to deepen relations with other states in the Middle East.
Greece-Israeli ties and defense, security and energy cooperation have become increasingly close over the past decade, and Mitsotakis enjoys a friendly rapport with his counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Shared concerns about Türkiye have helped boost ties. The two countries signed a 3-billion-euro ($3.5 billion) deal on Aug. 31 for Israel to build an air defense shield in Greece.
Greece’s traditionally high spending has been fueled by almost constant tensions with Türkiye and its questioning of Greek sovereignty over parts of the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece recognizes only the demarcation of the two countries’ respective maritime zones as an issue to be negotiated or sent to international arbitration.
