Anthony Blinken meets with Greek FM Nikos Dendias

Anthony Blinken arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shortly before 9 am on Tuesday morning, and met with Nikos Dendias.

The meeting of the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, with his Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendias, started in a warm atmosphere. The head of the State Department called Nikos Dendias “my friend”.

What is Anthony Blinken bringing to Athens

In the dialogue they had in front of the cameras before the start of the fourth round of the US-Greece strategic dialogue, Nikos Dendias welcomed Anthony Blinken to Athens, pointing out that since their previous meeting “we experienced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The fact that all these developments highlighted that the cooperation between Greece and the USA has become closer” emphasized Mr. Dendias who emphasized that “US-Greece cooperation strengthens regional security and stability”.

At the same time, the Greek Foreign Minister noted that security, defense, humanitarian and environmental challenges, as well as regional issues, will be on the agenda of the meeting, which takes place after the meeting and dinner that Mitsotakis and Blinken had on Monday night.

“There are still many new events that have taken place since our last meeting. The participation of Alexandroupolis in the natural gas pipeline was very important” noted Mr. Dendias.

“Nikos my friend”

“Nikos, my friend, thank you very much” the head of the State Department began his statement, expressing his joy that he is in Athens to start the fourth strategic dialogue.

“This dialogue reflects the depth of our relationship over 20 years. Today’s discussions will pick up where we left off in the last dialogue in 2021,” said Mr Blinken.

As he noted “Greece has become a hub in the region for the US military groups that are deployed here in the region” adding that “in this way jobs have also been opened in the country”.

At the same time, he underlined that “we want to help NATO even more in supporting Ukraine” while making special reference to the fact that “Greece helped very quickly in dealing with the natural disaster with the earthquake in Turkey”.

He did not fail to mention the close relationship between the two peoples as he noted on the one hand that “more than 1 million Americans live or visit Greece” and on the other hand that one of them was President Biden “who calls himself Bidenopoulos (that’s what the US president called himself in the meeting he had with Kyriakos Mitsotakis).

After the conclusion of the meeting, a press conference will follow at approximately 10:30 in the morning.

The strategic dialogue between Greece and the USA

The 3rd round of the Greece-USA Strategic Dialogue took place in Washington in October 2021.

The areas of cooperation covered by the Strategic Dialogue are: Regional Issues, Defense and Security, Law Enforcement and Counter-Terrorism, Humanitarian Challenges and Disaster Preparedness, Trade and Investment, Energy and Environment, and the ties between the two nations.

The talks in the framework of bilateral relations are expected to focus on ways to further strengthen strategic bilateral relations, in all sectors as well as regional and international developments.

Anthony Blinken’s itinerary

On the agenda of the American Foreign Minister is a meeting with the president of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras. Later, Mr. Blinken is scheduled to take a guided tour of the Ancient Agora, while he is also expected to have a meeting with rescue service EMAK officials who operated in Turkey a few days ago in the wake of the earthquake.