Pompeo and the leaders of Cyprus and Greece will meet in Israel to discuss gas pipeline to Europe
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and President of Cyprus Nikos Anastasiadis will arrive in Israel in the near future to discuss the construction of the world's longest underwater EastMed gas pipeline from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the Jewish state stated on Wednesday.
“In a few days, the leaders of Cyprus and Greece will come here together with US Secretary of State Pompeo to advance the construction of a pipeline from Israel to Europe through these countries. The Navy will protect this gas pipeline,” the prime minister said during his visit to the Israeli naval base in Haifa.
Deputy Head of the State Department’s press service, Robert Palladino, said that Pompeo will visit Israel, Kuwait and Lebanon next week as part of a strategic dialogue with these countries. During a tour in January, the chief of American diplomacy had visited Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
On December 20, 2018, following the summit with Tsipras and Anastasiadis in the city of Beersheba in southern Israel, Netanyahu said that an agreement on the construction of EastMed could be signed in a few months. The length of this pipeline, which will connect Cyprus, Greece and Israel with Italy and the rest of Europe, should be about 2 thousand km. Investments for construction of the pipeline are estimated at € 6 billion.
The pipeline route will pass through the Leviathan gas field in Israel and will reach Greece and Italy. The capacity of the pipeline will be 12-16 billion cubic meters of gas annually.