The Foreign Office<\/b> has provided answers around the possibility visit<\/b> of the American president<\/b> to Athens<\/b>, while announcing a series of critical international contacts of Giorgos Gerapetritis<\/b>.<\/p>\n
During the regular briefing of diplomatic editors, ministry spokeswoman Lana Zohiou<\/b> clarified that despite the positive mood expressed, there is still no official update or finalization on a visit by Donald Trump to Greece<\/b>. <\/p>\n
At the same time, he noted that the strategic dialogue<\/b> between the two countries remains pending, with the common desire to focus on holding it within this year<\/b>.<\/p>\n
In the field of direct diplomatic moves<\/b>, the foreign minister<\/b> begins a marathon of contacts:<\/p>\n Mrs. Zohiou stressed the importance of the Greek presence in the Balkans<\/b> processes, announcing a further tour of the minister in the region<\/b>, which will be finalized in the near future. <\/p>\n Greece, as a factor of stability and for humanitarian reasons, has used its diplomatic capital and undertaken to welcome on its territory 176 EU and third country citizens<\/b> who were on board the mobile ship to Gaza<\/b>, said Ms. Zohiou.<\/p>\n “There was no prior understanding with Israel<\/b> about the operations,” she stressed, adding: “The communication was solely for the disembarkation of the 176 civilians. Greece acted on the basis of the rules of Law of the Sea<\/b>.”<\/p>\n “We undertook responsibly under extremely adverse conditions the humanitarian task of receiving the passengers,” he said, noting that Greece’s concern was to avoid escalation<\/b>, the safety and protection of the 176 citizens who arrived in Greece and were released to return to their home countries.<\/p>\n The Israeli ship had not docked<\/b>, he clarified in response to questions on the matter. “The disembarkation of the passengers was done by means of the Coast Guard<\/b>. For humanitarian reasons, Greece offered to disembark the 176 citizens on its territory and ensured their return to their countries,” he said.<\/p>\n He reiterated that Greece is in favour of full compliance with the procedures provided for by international law<\/b> and calls for universal respect for international law. He stressed that the consultation with Israel took place after the incident<\/b>.<\/p>\n On the issue of the Strait of Hormuz<\/b>, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman reiterated that Greece supports the initiatives of France and Britain<\/b> and noted that it will have a leading role<\/b> in cooperation with the maritime community, but we are talking about the period after the end of hostilities<\/b>.<\/p>\n “There is cautious optimism,” he said. He also clarified that Operation ASPIDES<\/b> is operating under a specific mandate. It is limited geographically, and he noted that the Minister and the Prime Minister have positioned themselves on the need to strengthen SHIELD<\/b>.<\/p>\n “Greece, if and when all initiatives are translated into action and implemented, has a recognised role given the fact that it has the largest fleet in the world<\/b>,” he said. “So that is where the weight of our country’s participation in these initiatives is recognised.”<\/p>\n “The freedom of navigation<\/b> remains an absolute priority for us. Merchant ships and civil infrastructure should not be targets,” she stressed.<\/p>\n Asked about the German compensation<\/b> and the recent meeting with the German Foreign Minister, Ms. Zohiou noted that Mr. Gerapetritis “firmly raises the issue of German war debts with his counterpart. The matter remains open until a final solution is found. Our claims are active<\/b>.”<\/p>\n On the mutual assistance clause<\/b>, he noted that there were ongoing discussions in the EU and stressed that the accelerator was the events in Cyprus<\/b> and the geopolitical environment.<\/p>\n He said that the Prime Minister has positioned himself that there should be a roadmap for Article 42.7 of the EU<\/b> that would outline how to respond if a member state triggers 42.7. It would take the form of a operational manual<\/b>.<\/p>\n Referring to the Minister’s recent visit to Libya<\/b>, she noted that the Foreign Minister and Libyan officials agreed on the need for a constructive dialogue. “Greece is firmly committed to the political process. It is in favour of holding free elections<\/b> without restrictions, as the only way to resolve the Libyan issue.”<\/p>\n Asked about discussions with the Albanian government on boundary demarcation<\/b>, she noted that they started years ago and were interrupted after the Albanian Constitutional Court ruling. “For the moment it does not appear that we are close<\/b> to this possibility,” he said.<\/p>\n The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also referred to the fifth Greece-Jordan-Cyprus trilateral meeting<\/b> held yesterday in Jordan. He noted that in the Joint Declaration, the three leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen and promote the trilateral cooperation<\/b> and pledged to build a long-term strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in the Eastern Mediterranean.<\/p>\n The statement sets out the common positions of the three on issues related to developments in the Middle East, Iran, Lebanon and Syria. They stressed their commitment to the solution of the Cyprus problem<\/b> in the framework of the UN Security Council resolutions. “The three countries are jointly addressing the challenges in the region,” he said.<\/p>\n He noted that “with Jordan<\/b> we maintain close relations of mutual trust and respect” and the country “plays a stabilizing role<\/b> in the region, which is particularly turbulent.”<\/p>\n “We attach great importance to maintaining stability. Jordan appreciates our stance within the EU and the UNSC. Jordan’s role in protection of Christian populations<\/b> is particularly important.”<\/p>\n Meetings in Qatar<\/b> were also held in a very warm atmosphere. Greece has expressed its solidarity with the Gulf states and calls for full respect for their sovereignty and territorial integrity.<\/p>\n “The Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf constitute an important geopolitical arc<\/b> for the security of the region and for our country,” he stressed.<\/p>\n He finally referred to the historic renewal of the agreement on cooperation in the field of defence between Greece and France<\/b>. The two countries are linked by a long-standing relationship based on the values of freedom, respect for human rights and respect for international law.<\/p>\n “It has proved propitious to conclude the Greek-French alliance<\/b>,” he noted. “Greece and France have stood together in crises of recent years and aspire to jointly face the challenges that lie ahead.”<\/p>\n <\/html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Foreign Ministry gave answers on the possibility of a visit by the US president to Athens, while announcing a series of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.tomanifesto.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
“There was no prior understanding with Israel on the Gaza flotilla”<\/h3>\n
We support French and British initiatives on the Strait of Hormuz<\/b><\/h3>\n
Greece-Jordan-Cyprus<\/b><\/h3>\n
The conclusion of the Greek-French alliance<\/b><\/h3>\n