Next Friday, October 14, the opening ceremony of the construction work of the Israel-Cyprus-Greece EuroAsia Interconnector project on the Cyprus-Crete section will take place at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia.

The ceremony will be held in the presence of the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiadis, the EU Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, the Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry of Cyprus, Natasa Pileidou, and the Minister of the Environment and the Environment of Greece. Energy, Kostas Skrekas.

Speaking about the RIK “Apo Mera Se Mera” program and asking about the possible reaction of Turkey, Cypriot Energy Minister N. Pileidou said that “it is possible that Turkey will take some actions to prevent the laying of the cable for sure, we will certainly discuss this issue with the EU . and contacts will be made with any other necessary. However, we believe that the issue of cable is completely separate from the issues of exploitation and use of natural resources, natural resources within the EEZ.”

Ms. Pileydou noted that even in this case, there are additional legal instruments regarding the cable, so that the position of the Republic of Cyprus and the project as a whole can be defended, as it is done in other similar cases without problems.

The EuroAsia Interconnector project is an electrical interconnection of Cyprus-Greece-Israel and will put an end to the energy isolation of Cyprus from European and regional electrical networks.

The EU has approved a grant of 657 million euros for the construction of the 1st part of the electrical connection project between Cyprus and Crete using funds from the Connect Europe Mechanism. The amount of funding approved for Interconnector EuroAsia is the largest in the history of the Republic of Cyprus project. The project is included in the national plan “Cyprus – Tomorrow” and will receive an additional grant from the Recovery and Resilience Fund of about 100 million euros.

It is noted that the morning of the same day will be preceded by the conference “EMGF – Energy Transition Conference”, organized by Cyprus on the occasion of the chairmanship of the regional intergovernmental organization Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF). The purpose of the conference is to highlight the critical role of EMGF in efforts to move towards cleaner energy and sustainable development. The conference will be attended by the EU Energy Commissioner.

Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Israel, France, Italy, Jordan and Palestine participate in the EMGF. The Forum’s observers are the EU, the US and the World Bank.

Source: RES-IPE