The US Secretary of State arrived in Athens in the afternoon, shortly after 5:30 pm, flying from Ankara. Anthony Blinken. Immediately after that, the head of American diplomacy flew from the airport to Maximos Palace, where will meet with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Government spokesman Yannis Oikonomou, briefing political editors, described Blinken’s visit as an extremely positive development and stressed that Greece’s relations with the US are at their best in recent years. Regarding the agenda of the meeting between the US Secretary of State and the Prime Minister, G. Economou said that all issues related to our country, as well as the international political scene, including all major issues, the war in Ukraine, energy, relations with Turkey, NATO.

From the US side, US Deputy Secretary of State for European Affairs Karen Donfried expressed her assessment that during the contacts that Mr. Blinken will hold in our country, all current geopolitical developments will be discussed.

Early Tuesday morning The head of the State Department will meet with Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias. Specifically at 08:45, as part of the extended talks, the two ministers will announce the start of the 4th round of the Greek-American Strategic Dialogue, followed by talks between the two delegations. This will be followed by a private meeting between the Greek and US foreign ministers, followed by joint press statements at 10:30 am. Bilateral negotiations are expected to focus on ways to further strengthen strategic bilateral relations across all sectors, as well as regional and international developments.

Recall that in October 2021, the 3rd round of the Strategic Dialogue between Greece and the United States was held in Washington. The areas of cooperation covered by the Strategic Dialogue are: regional issues, defense and security, law enforcement and counter-terrorism, humanitarian challenges and natural disasters. Readiness, trade and investment, energy and environment, ties between two peoples.

During his visit to Athens, Mr. Anthony Blinken he will also meet with the former prime minister Alexis Tsipras.

The schedule of the American Minister also includes a visit to the Ancient Agora.

Anthony Blicken will then meet with members of the EMAK search and rescue teams who have returned from earthquake-hit areas in Turkey. Subsequently, he will open the expansion of the embassy building in the presence of Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and the Archbishop of Athens.

It is noted that Anthony Blinken visited Turkey on Sunday and Monday, where he visited areas affected by the deadly February 6 earthquake and met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. During his visit, he announced an additional $100 million in aid for the victims of the earthquake, which killed about 45,000 people in the country and neighboring Syria.

Source: RES-IPE