THESSALONIKI- US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt spoke of ”the collaboration on energy is one of the brightest aspects of the relationship between Greece and the US,” while addressing the Thessaloniki Summit 2019 on Thursday, which he is attending for a third time.
Pyatt underlined that US presence in northern Greece is much more apparent compared to previous years, as “we have made the city of Alexandroupolis our strategic focus,” and he referred to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) and the Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as the three elements that make the northern Greek city so significant.
He especially praised TAP’s potential for “changing Europe’s energy map and bringing non-Russian gas to European customers.”
Pyatt then mentioned that there is at least one reliable US investor company group that has shown great interest in the privatization prospects of the port of Alexandroupolis.
On the upcoming Thursday evening meeting between Prime Minister Mitsotakis and North Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on the sidelines of the summit, Pyatt said that “we welcome the attention Mitsotakis and his government have paid towards the full implementation of the Prespes Agreement, and unlockinig the fantastic potential for Greek investments, businesses and exports.”
On Turkey, Pyatt noted that “one would be hard pressed to find two nations more aligned on the Turkish issue than Greece and the US.”
Finally, on the migration crisis, he said that “it is not a Greek, but a European issue.”
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