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Greek Development Minister: Cooperation between Riyadh, Athens Has No Limits

Greek Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Giorgiadis (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Greek Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Giorgiadis (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Greek Development Minister: Cooperation between Riyadh, Athens Has No Limits

Greek Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Giorgiadis (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Greek Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Giorgiadis (Asharq Al-Awsat)

A high-ranking Greek official said that the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Greece would establish a strategic partnership between the two countries, in light of existing agreements that enhance cooperation in defense, security, economy and trade.

Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Giorgiadis told Asharq Al-Awsat that the visit would witness bilateral talks with the Greek prime minister to coordinate positions and sign cooperation agreements, pointing to the need to strengthening relations to enhance current and future partnerships.

Maximizing economic, commercial and investment cooperation

The Greek minister stressed the importance of Saudi Arabia’s new vital initiatives that promote the green economy and protect the environment, within the framework of Vision 2030.

He said that a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Greek Development Bank (HDB) and the Saudi Public Investment Fund to facilitate investment in the two countries

Giorgiadis noted that cooperation between Greece and Saudi Arabia was based on a long legacy of relations that date back to several centuries.

“There are Greek companies investing in Saudi Arabia, while we found signs of a real desire by a number of Saudi companies to invest in Greece,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
He added that the two countries have set up a joint investment forum in order to maximize economic, trade and investment cooperation.

“Our relationship is now at its best,” the Greek minister underlined.

He continued: “A few months ago, we signed a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia. It was the first time that Greece sent Patriot missiles to the Kingdom… to protect vital infrastructure in the field of energy.”

Giorgiadis added that it was the first Greek military presence outside the Mediterranean region in decades, except for operations within NATO.

Defense cooperation reflects the solidity of the bilateral relationship

The Greek minister pointed to important meetings with officials in the main sectors, noting that the investment forum that was held in Riyadh was attended by more than 200 participants, who represented the public and private sectors to discuss ways to push cooperation to broader horizons.

“On the investment level, we are working to attract Saudi investments to Greece and vice versa in various sectors, including tourism,” the minister said, adding: “We look forward in the near future to a huge Saudi investment in the sectors of renewable energy, cyber-security and agriculture. Through economic cooperation driven by military cooperation, we reach the highest level of bilateral strategic collaboration.”

The effects of the Russian-Ukrainian war on Europe are real

Regarding the Greek stance on the Russian-Ukrainian war and its impact on his country, Giorgiadis said: “Our position on the Russian war on Ukraine was clear. We denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a violation of international laws.”

He added: “Greece is part of Europe, which means that it is directly affected by the war.”

However, the Greek minister of Development and Investment underlined the necessity to find an alternative to Russian gas and energy sources to create a state of balance.

He said that Saudi Arabia was able to find a way to stabilize the global energy market, which confirmed the depth of Saudi-European relations.

Regarding the challenges posed by the wave of migrants and refugees, Giorgiadis said: “We have welcomed the Ukrainian refugees and we are working to arrange their situation. As for refugees from different parts of the world, especially from areas of conflict and war, including migrants from Africa, their case represents a great dilemma for Greece.”

Securing maritime navigation in the region

On the importance of securing maritime navigation in the region, the Greek official said: “With regard to the waterways, we are working with Saudi Arabia to secure maritime navigation, and we have already sent soldiers for this purpose. We will continue to defend the Kingdom, and we believe that we all have to work for the stability of the region.”

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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.