Following years of negotiations, agreement met for East Med pipeline; Deal estimated over $7 billion for 2,000 kilometer pipeline; Projected finish by 2024.
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Israel finalized an agreement with Greece, Italy and Cyprus to move forward with construction of the East Med pipeline.
The pipeline is set to be the world’s longest, around 2,000 kilometers. The deal, worth over $7 billion, has been under negotiations as part of the trilateral meetings between Israel, Greece and Cyprus. A committee was formed with continued agreements and joint projects in tourism, search and rescue, the pipeline and much more.
The European Union has given its approval and invested $100 million into construction research for the project.
Prime Minister Netanyahu last held a trilateral meeting with the foreign ministers of Greece and Cyprus in Jerusalem, talks centered on the East Med gas pipeline construction and natural gas supply from Israel’s gas fields to Europe. They also held talks on creating a new multinational firefighting force and further cooperation in energy and tourism.
At the time, Netanyahu stated on regional cooperation “Our prime focus right now is on energy, on developing the eastern Mediterranean pipeline. It’s a great project, could be one of the great underwater projects in the world. And obviously it’s something that we think is important. Equally, we think it’s important that all countries respect the territorial waters, internationally-recognized territorial waters, and this is something that is important for all of us.”
In March, Netanyahu, President Nicos Anastasiades and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met in Nicosia, their fourth trilateral meeting in less than three years. Their meeting centered on moving forward with the pipeline and EuroAsia Interconnector project, a 1,520 km undersea electric cable.
The pipeline is expected to be completed by 2024. The creation of the gas pipeline will not only benefit Israel’s economy and diplomatic and trade relations with European states, but has also placed Israel as a significant player as the world’s largest natural gas exporter.
Photo: Mr.PK/Shutterstock.com
