Mu Xuequan
NICOSIA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus and Egypt have agreed to start discussions in December on an agreement to build a gas pipe from a Cypriot natural gas field to take gas to Egypt, Cypriot state radio reported on Monday.
It said the agreement came during talks when Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made an official visit to Cyprus on Monday.
The gas pipe will make use of an already existing pipe system from depleted Egyptian gas fields to liquefaction plants at Idku and Damietta.
State radio also reported that a four-party meeting of Cyprus, Greece, Egypt and Italy will be held on early December to sign a memorandum of understanding for building a gas pipe from gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean to Italy via Cyprus and Greece, a project supported by the European Union.
Several gas fields in the region have been discovered in recent years by Israel, Cyprus, and Egypt, making it a potential alternative for Europe to Russian gas.
Egypt said it wanted to buy as much gas as Cyprus could provide from its Aphrodite gas field.
Anastasiades told a joint press conference that he and Sisi agreed in their talks that the discovery of natural gas was opening up a unique opportunity for joint action aimed at benefiting the peoples of the two countries.
He also said the vision was to turn the hydrocarbon discoveries into a catalyst which would contribute towards peace, stability, and welfare of the wider region.
Energy issues, along with security and stability in the region and bilateral relations, will be on the agenda of a tripartite summit in Nicosia on Tuesday, with the participation of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Sisi also stressed the need for strengthening security and stability in the region, saying that the destabilization of the regions had led to the rising of extremism and terrorism.
He added that in this context, the signing of a defense and cooperation agreement between Cyprus and Egypt in 2015 had proved to be an important move.
SOURCE
NICOSIA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus and Egypt have agreed to start discussions in December on an agreement to build a gas pipe from a Cypriot natural gas field to take gas to Egypt, Cypriot state radio reported on Monday.
It said the agreement came during talks when Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made an official visit to Cyprus on Monday.
The gas pipe will make use of an already existing pipe system from depleted Egyptian gas fields to liquefaction plants at Idku and Damietta.
State radio also reported that a four-party meeting of Cyprus, Greece, Egypt and Italy will be held on early December to sign a memorandum of understanding for building a gas pipe from gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean to Italy via Cyprus and Greece, a project supported by the European Union.
Several gas fields in the region have been discovered in recent years by Israel, Cyprus, and Egypt, making it a potential alternative for Europe to Russian gas.
Egypt said it wanted to buy as much gas as Cyprus could provide from its Aphrodite gas field.
Anastasiades told a joint press conference that he and Sisi agreed in their talks that the discovery of natural gas was opening up a unique opportunity for joint action aimed at benefiting the peoples of the two countries.
He also said the vision was to turn the hydrocarbon discoveries into a catalyst which would contribute towards peace, stability, and welfare of the wider region.
Energy issues, along with security and stability in the region and bilateral relations, will be on the agenda of a tripartite summit in Nicosia on Tuesday, with the participation of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Sisi also stressed the need for strengthening security and stability in the region, saying that the destabilization of the regions had led to the rising of extremism and terrorism.
He added that in this context, the signing of a defense and cooperation agreement between Cyprus and Egypt in 2015 had proved to be an important move.
SOURCE
