Greece and Saudi Arabia agreed in May on the main terms of a planned joint venture to build a data cable, the so-called “East to Med data Corridor”, to be developed by MENA HUB, owned by Saudi Arabia’s STC and the of Greek Telecommunications and the satellite applications company TTSA. read more The deal was finalized during a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Athens, his first to a European Union member state since the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Prince Mohammed’s last official visit outside the Middle East was to Japan in 2019 for a G20 summit. “By connecting the electricity grid … we can provide Greece and Southwestern Europe through Greece with much cheaper renewable energy,” said Prince Mohammed, sitting next to Mitsotakis. Bilateral agreements were also signed in the areas of energy and military cooperation, among others. read more Mitsotakis welcomed Prince Mohammed’s visit as an opportunity for further discussion of regional developments and “how to further consolidate this important relationship between our two countries, with particular emphasis on economic cooperation”. Mitsotakis was among Western leaders who visited Riyadh after Khashoggi’s assassination at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul sparked an outcry in the West and tarnished the prince’s image as a reformer pushing to open up top oil exporter Saudi Arabia. in the world. French President Emmanuel Macron also visited Riyadh last year and US President Joe Biden met with Prince Mohammed on a trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this month as Washington works to ease tensions with Riyadh. US intelligence has implicated the prince in Khashoggi’s murder, a charge the prince and Saudi authorities deny. After Greece, Prince Mohammed will head to France. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Nayera Abdullah in Cairo and Angeliki Koutandou in Athens. Written by Nadine Awadalla and Ghaida Ghantous. Edited by Catherine Evans, Tomasz Janowski and Richard Pullin Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
