RIYADH/ATHENS, July 26 (Reuters) – Greece and Saudi Arabia sealed a deal on Tuesday to lay an undersea data cable that will connect Europe to Asia and discussed the possibility of linking their power grids to supply Europe with cheaper green energy.
Greece and Saudi Arabia agreed in May on the main terms of a planned joint venture to build a data cable, the so-called “Eastern Mediterranean Data Corridor”, to be developed by MENA HUB, owned by Saudi Arabia’s STC and Greek Telecom. and satellite applications company TTSA. Read more
The deal was finalized during a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Athens, the first to an EU member state since the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
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Prince Mohammed’s last official visit outside the Middle East was to Japan in 2019 for a G20 summit.
“By linking the electricity grid … we can provide Greece and south-west Europe through Greece with much cheaper renewable energy,” said Prince Mohammed, sitting next to Mitsotakis.
Bilateral agreements were also signed in the areas of energy and military cooperation, among others. Read more
Mitsotakis hailed Prince Mohammed’s visit as an opportunity to further discuss regional developments and “how to further consolidate this important relationship between our two countries, with special emphasis on economic cooperation.”
Mitsotakis was among Western leaders who have visited Riyadh since Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which sparked an outcry in the West and tarnished the prince’s image as a reformist pushing to open up Arabia Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading oil exporter.
French President Emmanuel Macron also visited Riyadh last year and US President Joe Biden met with Prince Mohammed on a trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this month as Washington works to ease the tension with Riyadh.
US intelligence has implicated the prince in Khashoggi’s murder, a charge the prince and Saudi authorities deny.
After Greece, Prince Mohammed will head to France.
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Reporting by Nayera Abdullah in Cairo and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Written by Nadine Awadalla and Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Catherine Evans, Tomasz Janowski and Richard Pullin
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