US Ambassador – Greek-American cooperation in energy is one of the biggest “success stories”

Greek-American energy cooperation is one of the biggest “success stories” in recent years, said US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt, in statements to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, on the sidelines of the Thessaloniki Summit 2021, organized by the Association of Greek Industries and the Economic Forum of Delphi, under the auspices of the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The American ambassador describes the period that Greek-American relations are going through as very exciting and assures that the development of bilateral ties will continue throughout the range of areas covered by the Strategic Dialogue.

“This has been one of the biggest success stories of Greek energy policy and US-Greek cooperation in the last two years,” said the US ambassador, referring to the various projects that promote energy diversification in the region.

As for the situation in Europe, with the increase of gas prices, even in view of the winter, he estimates that “Greece is quite safe because it has many sources, due to the new infrastructure that has been developed, such as the expansion of Revythousa and the TAP pipeline,” and this, as he said, “will become even more evident in the next two years with the completion of projects such as the FSRU in Alexandroupolis, the IGB and the pipeline with Northern Macedonia “.

As the American ambassador characteristically stated, “part of the lesson of the current energy pressure is the importance of the continuation and acceleration of the energy transition”, an area in which, as he underlined, “Prime Minister Mitsotakis has set very high standards”. This fact, as he notes, “was widely recognized at COP26, this week, in Glasgow, where not only the United States delegation, but as far as I know, many cited Greece as an example of a kind of ambition that everyone should to show (in terms of energy transition) “.

Continuing our work for energy security

“It’s important to understand what caused this price shock. There are a number of factors, including the rapid recovery from the pandemic in parts of the world. Also, the decisions taken by Russia. “And it’s very important that we look at statements from European leaders who criticize Russia’s use of energy as a source of leverage.”

According to the American ambassador, what he says to all of us in this situation is “that we must continue our work for energy security, the diversification of resources, something that Greece is doing”, but also the acceleration of the energy transition both for the protection of the environment and the world in which we live, as well as the possibilities it gives as a lever of new economic growth. This, he said, is something that Greece is currently seeing in western Macedonia with the White Dragon project, in which an American company is participating, “and which we hope will serve as a new source of employment in areas that will be negatively affected by de-lignification “.

Continuation in the growth of bilateral relations

Mr Pyatt also said he was confident that bilateral relations would continue to grow across the Strategic Dialogue, noting: “I think you will see a lot happening in the commercial and investment space in the coming months, with new projects coming up. “Energy transition and clean energy are clearly areas of fantastic potential.”

The US ambassador also referred to his recent meeting with the new Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Christos Stylianidis, with whom they discussed, as he said, “how we can expand our work to fire protection and resilience to climate change”, while he made special mention of the importance of the relations between the citizens in Greece and the USA but also in the dynamics of the education sector. “I think that as the pandemic disappears, you will see more American students coming here to Greece but also Greek students traveling to the United States. We are in a very exciting period in our relationship. I just read that here in Thessaloniki there is a huge group of American students who have arrived at Anatolia College,” he said.