Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is visiting Prague on Tuesday to take part in the Informal meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers (GYMNICH). The issues to be discussed will be the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday, 30 August and the relations with EU member-states with the countries of Africa on Wednesday, 31 August, the foreign ministry said. On Wednesday, In the context of the meeting, there will be a working lunch with the participation of the Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, where their European perspective as well as the future of the Eastern Partnership Relation will be discussed. On the sidelines of Gymnich, Dendias is expected to have a bilateral meeting with his Estonian counterpart Urmas Reinsalu. During his stay in Prague, Dendias will have a series of bilateral meetings with senior Czech officials. Specifically, Dendias is expected to be received by the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, the president of the Senate, Miloš Vystrčil, with the president of the committee of foreign affairs and defence of the Senate, Pavel Fischer, as well as with the president Marek Ženíšek and members of the foreign relations committee of the parliament.
The talks will focus on bilateral relations, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, developments in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as the cooperation of the two countries in the European Union, the foreign ministry announcement said. The Czech Republic took over the six-month EU presidency on July 1, 2022.
Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, met with the president and the vice president of the Czech Republic’s Senate, Miloš Vystrčil and Jitka Seitlová, respectively, as well as with the Chairpersons of the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Defence and EU Affairs of the Czech Senate, Pavel Fischer and David Smoljak. They had a constructive discussion on energy issues, on global and regional developments, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, cooperation within the EU, the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean, the foreign ministry posted on Twitter. FM Dendias received by Czech President Milos Zeman in Prague Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias was received by Czech President Miloš Zeman during his visit to Prague on Tuesday.
According to a foreign ministry tweet, the meeting focused on bilateral political and trade relations, Greek-Czech cooperation within the EU, especially during the Czech EU presidency, the European prospects of the Western Balkans, developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean. In a statement after the meeting, Dendias said that he had an opportunity to hear the Czech president’s views on the cost-of-energy crisis, the greatest crisis faced by Europe in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the problems in the EU. “It was also [an opportunity] to inform him about the particular problems of our own region, the Eastern Mediterranean, and about Turkish provocativeness, of Turkey’s revisionist views that constitute a revisionist narrative that is to some degree similar to the revisionist narrative emerging from the Russian side,” he added.
Dendias also referred to his earlier meetings with officials of the Czech Senate, where he again exchanged views on the current crisis, presenting the Greek positions on recent developments and briefing them on the challenges facing Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean. The minister’s next stop will be the informal Gymnich meeting of EU foreign ministers, where he said the agenda will focus on issues caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as matters concerning Africa and the challenges facing Europe as winter approaches. There will also be a dinner on Wednesday with the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia
