President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, and the Lebanese Minister of Energy, Joseph Saadi, who met on Monday at the Presidential Palace, in Nicosia, discussed about the deepening of bilateral energy cooperation between Cyprus and Lebanon. The meeting was attended by the Minister of Energy, George Papanastasiou.
Discussions focused on Cyprus-Lebanon cooperation on the exchange of know-how in the field of electricity production, the delimitation of maritime borders between the two countries, following the recent decision of the Lebanese Council of Ministers, as well as the energy potential of the Eastern Mediterranean.
According to a press release issued by the Presidency, welcoming the Lebanese Minister of Energy, the President of the Republic said, inter alia, that Lebanon is the closest country to Cyprus, recalling that he visited Beirut shortly after the election of President Aoun.
He added that the two countries cooperate very closely and have excellent relations.
“In view of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU, we are working hard to achieve positive developments in EU-Lebanon relations. I travelled to Lebanon with the President of the European Commission a year ago, and it was the first visit by a Commission President to Lebanon. We want to see tangible positive developments and are working with other EU member states to start discussions on a comprehensive strategic agreement between the EU and Lebanon,” he noted.
He also said that during their meeting “we will also discuss the possibility of an electricity interconnection; it is very important to have something tangible so that we can work with the EU in this direction for its political and financial support.”
On his part, the Lebanese Minister of Energy expressed his country’s interest in the electrical interconnection and further energy cooperation between Cyprus and Lebanon, the press release said
In statements following the meeting, Saadi said that Lebanon needs to increase the provision of electricity to its economy and its population and do it at lower cost, while at the same time ensuring security of supply.
He added that to this end the Lebanese government is working on many fronts to attract private sector investment into production capacity, conventional and renewable, to ensure the modernisation of the transmission grid and its interconnection to the region, because it makes sense for everyone.
‘Today I was very happy to meet with my counterpart in Cyprus, to discuss ways to cooperate in terms of electricity and interconnection, and we also agreed to establish working technical groups to pursue the initiative’, he noted.
Asked if these plans require the ratification of the maritime border agreement by the Lebanese parliament in advance, Saadi said that the Lebanese Council of Ministers has approved the latest border delimitation and according to the information he has, the President of Lebanon will be signing this in the coming weeks directly, concluding this particular chapter.
‘My information is that the President has the authority to go ahead and sign it or have one of the ministers sign it,’ he concluded.
For his part, Papanastasiou said that the visit of the Lebanese Minister of Energy to Cyprus is the result of contacts between President Christodoulides and President Aoun.
“The two countries have developed their relationship. Let us just remember that President Christodoulides was the first to visit the country as soon as President Aoun took office, and this visit is a continuation of the positions taken by the two Presidents,” he further explained.
He added that the Lebanese Minister of Energy essentially came with some opinions and ideas for cooperation between the two countries so that Lebanon can develop its electricity networks, but also with a view to facilitate some kind of exchange of know-how, mostly from Cyprus, so that Lebanon can achieve autonomy in terms of electricity.
“You understand that, beyond the issue of electricity, we also covered the issues of the exclusive economic zone. It is very positive that there is now an agreed border. I understand from the Minister that President Aoun may sign this decree to formalize this arrangement. So you understand that these issues also play an important role in relations between the two countries, because hydrocarbons can be found everywhere, even on borders, and in the next stage there will have to be a joint exploitation agreement,” he noted.
On the electricity issue, Papanastasiou said that Lebanon is facing serious problems related to production itself, which is unstable and mainly conventional, and at the moment, it is trying with help from European banks and the World Bank, to create an environment that will attract private investment to Lebanon.
“The Lebanese state would certainly like to have their contribution to these arrangements with private individuals, so we will provide whatever knowledge we have in this area,” he added.
Asked about the remaining steps by the Cypriot side for the demarcation agreement to be ratified by both states, the Minister said that once the agreement has been concluded, it is up to President Christodoulides to designate the person who will sign these agreements. “I believe that even with a decree, without having to go through the Parliament, and I am saying this with reservation, these agreements can be signed by a decision of the President of the Republic,” he noted.
Asked if there had been any developments that have brought the EastMed pipeline back on track by the Israeli side, Papanastasiou said that the energy potential of the Eastern Mediterranean is now attracting the attention of many.
“You understand that natural gas, which is located in our exclusive economic zone, can be used as a supplement to the pipelines located in the vertical corridor, and the vertical corridor starts in Alexandroupolis and essentially branches out through Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary to Ukraine,” he went on to explain.
“So the 3+1 scheme and the Americans’ interest was primarily in this particular vertical corridor, but the Eastern Mediterranean is a point that essentially has this energy potential. Soon we will also have natural gas produced within our own exclusive economic zone. Moreover, Israel has the large Leviathan field and other smaller fields, and so Israel says that there is interest in connecting its natural gas network with the country that makes the most sense, which is essentially Cyprus,” he pointed out.
“This does not mean a revival of EastMed, but it could mean any other connection of Israel’s natural gas network with Cyprus. Of course, Israel has interconnections with pipelines that connect Egypt, these are land-based, and Israel already supplies Egypt and Jordan with natural gas,” the Minister concluded.