GSI Project: Mitsotakis, Christodoulides Remain Committed to Project

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides in New York on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly, with the outstanding issue of an undersea power cable connecting the island republic to Greece’s mainland, via the eastern Mediterranean, dominating talks.

Both sides reiterated their commitment to the ambitious project, officially known as the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI), which is envisioned as first linking Israel’s power grid with Cyprus.

The project has repeatedly been billed as “strategic”, getting nods by the European Commission and EU Council. Conversely, an adversarial Turkey has threatened that the undersea cable would pass through its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the eastern Mediterranean – a maritime delimitation that Athens and other regional capitals consider as baseless and contravening the international law of the sea.

Beyond the significant engineering challenges entailed in the project, issues of its economic viability have been abruptly tabled, especially by the Cypriot side.

At the same time, Israel remains fully committed to the endeavor, with Israeli ministers confident that financing will be found to fully implement the cable.

The contacts came as a previously scheduled meeting between the Greek leader and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was cancelled. The latter, instead, was due to attend a hastily called session on the sidelines of the UNGA by US President Donald Trump with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan to present his plan for ending the Israel-Gaza war.

Source: tovima.com