Rubio and Greek Foreign Minister Reaffirm Transatlantic Partnership During Joint Strategic Press Briefing

FOREIGN MINISTER GERAPETRITIS:

(In Greek.)

SECRETARY RUBIO: thank you. thank you for your welcome. it 's actually great to be here to have our sixth Strategic Dialogue, which is ongoing, and we've begun downstairs a few minutes ago. it's an event where our two countries commit to continue to work together on a range of issues.

we are two countries that are bound by a common heritage and by proud histories. the united states and greece share a long history of friendship and partnership and alliance. in fact, the importance of this historical alliance is highlighted by the instability in the world today that we see as a result of conflicts in hormuz with iran, or the conflicts in the red sea with – in yemen, or the conflicts in ukraine and russia. as you see a world that faces these destabilizing events, you recognize how important this alliance with greece is to the united states.

it's both historic – historical in its foundation, but it is also critical. it is a source of stability in an unstable world. and i'm thankful – we're thankful – that greece remains a great ally and that we share a common understanding – this is really important – not just a great ally – we share a common understanding of the threats that face our countries, the face – the threat – that face our societies. and we share a common understanding about the means to address them.

one thing we agree on, for example, is that the nations of europe need to take on a greater share of the burden in defending their continent, and greece is doing just that. they're on track to meet the commitments that have been made to spend 5 percent of their gdp on defense this year, with over 3.5 of that – of their gdp – percent of gdp being spent on core defense. they're also joining the national guard's bureau of state partnership program, and they'll be paired, ironically enough, with the florida national guard, which will bring our military collaboration even closer.

greece is also very close strategic partner on border security in the fight against mass migration, against fighting – they're a great ally as well on fighting transnational criminal organizations, on counterterrorism. due to its geography in the mediterranean at the crossroads of many of these transit routes, greece is particularly exposed to the threats posed by mass migration, by human trafficking, by different forms of terror.

now, as part of our efforts to combat these common threats to our nations, we're proud to announce a new memorandum of understanding establishing a joint security program to strengthen the counterterrorism information sharing between our respective law enforcement agencies. what we do not wish to see under any circumstances is that the birthplace of the west is threatened by bad decisions, by inactions, by failure to address challenges. and so, this program is going to create stronger, more proactive law enforcement cooperation that could readily stop these threats.

all of these initiatives and more show that greece is a true and strong and model nato ally, a country that understands the importance of burden sharing and is willing to work with partners to address critical threats to all member-states. beyond the scope of military operations – because that is not the only part of our relationship that is important – greece is an important partner in securing the alliance's economic future as well. it plays a vital role in global commerce in a variety of ways and in a variety of industries.

for example, we share a mutual intent to deepen our collaboration on emerging technology, and we intend to expand u.s. lng imports and building new gas and electricity interconnectors that strengthen regional energy security and our respective bilateral energy infrastructure.

and finally, we’re working together to combat antiquities trafficking into the united states, which finances criminal organizations and harms the u.s. art market. this is an important issue for both of our countries, as we in the u.s. value the artifacts of our western ancestors just as much as the modern greeeks do. the state department, along with our partners in the … homeland security, the fbi, the cbp  are cooperating with greek law enforcement to safeguard cultural property across the mediterranean to protect our shared cultural heritage from illicit trafficking networks.

so, today /'s strategic dialogue, i hope, reflects the strong relationship between our two countries and the breadth of the issues that we’re working together to address. and i'm grateful for the opportunity to spend time with you and with your colleagues, and i look forward to working with all of you in the future to secure our nations and protect our core interests. thank you.

MODERATOR: (via interpreter) (inaudible) secretary of state. i will now take a couple of questions. please state your name, the media outlet you represent, and to whom you’re directing your question. (inaudible)

QUESTION: (via interpreter) my question is for secretary rubio. mr. secretary, (inaudible) of europe and the differentiation of energy sources that it is a strategic choice of a u.s. administration. i wanted to ask to what extent can greece rely on the support of the u.s. on major projects, initiatives it undertakes in this direction? it's not only the vertical corridor. it's also the exxonmobil operations, the (inaudible) relations out of crete, big interconnection (inaudible) interconnection projects of greece and egypt, and the other major projects (inaudible) developed a connection between greece, cyprus, and israel. thank you.

SECRETARY RUBIO: well, i can tell you we're very committed – i guess the other people in the room don't know what you'd asked. oh, yeah, they do because they're hearing it on the little radio thing, okay. i was about to tell you what he asked me, but you know. so, look, very committed to this. in addition to the security cooperation, i would argue that energy security is tied to national security. and if you don't believe it

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