US's Pompeo hails 'productive meeting' at trilateral summit

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took to Twitter in the early hours of Thursday to hail a “productive meeting” with the leaders of Greece, Cyprus and Israel in Jerusalem.

“Had a productive meeting with leaders from #Israel, #Greece and #Cyprus on key issues in the Eastern Mediterranean,” Pompeo tweeted.

“The US strongly supports our democratic allies in their endeavor to expand cooperation and invest in the future of their energy markets,” he added.

Had a productive meeting with leaders from #Israel, #Greece and #Cyprus on key issues in the Eastern Mediterranean. The U.S. strongly supports our democratic allies in their endeavor to expand cooperation and invest in the future of their energy markets. pic.twitter.com/C55eKxSINI

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) 20 March 2019

In a statement on Wednesday, Alexis Tsipras, Nicos Anastasiades, Benjamin Netanyahu and Pompeo confirmed their commitment to energy and security cooperation and pledged to “defend against external malign influences” in the Eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East.

The statement also said that Pompeo underlined US support for the trilateral mechanism set up by Greece, Israel and Cyprus.

“They welcomed the recent natural gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean and its potential to contribute to energy security and diversification,” the statement concluded.

“Our basic idea is very significant – to create a secure network to transfer energy resources from the region of the Eastern Mediterranean, from Israel, Cyprus and Greece, to Europe,” said Tsipras in brief remarks at the beginning of the summit referring to the planned construction of the EastMed pipeline to transfer gas from Israel and Cyprus to Greece and on to Italy.