The 5th Round of Inter-ministerial Consultations on the Greek-German Action Plan held in Berlin on Thursday, May 12, 2022 was concluded with the signing of a Joint Declaration by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy and Openness Kostas Fragogiannis and the German State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office, Andreas Michaelis.
During the meeting of the two Deputy Ministers, which preceded the Interministerial Consultations, the creation of trilateral schemes between Greece, Germany and other countries was agreed for the elaboration of projects in the fields of energy and innovation. Greece was also asked to provide assistance in a strategic study being prepared by the German government on the consequences of the war in Ukraine on trade with third countries.
The Greek-German Action Plan is a joint initiative of the Foreign Ministries of the two countries, launched in December 2016, in an effort to expand and intensify the traditionally close cooperation between the two countries. The Action Plan is developed in four (4) pillars: a) political cooperation, b) economic and technological cooperation, c) scientific, cultural and educational cooperation and d) cooperation at the social level.
The issues that mainly concerned the delegations of the two countries – consisting of officials from the respective Ministries of Development and Investment, Citizen Protection, National Defence, Education and Religious Affairs, Labour and Social Affairs, Environment and Energy, Migration and Asylum, as well as Rural Development and Food – during the 5th round of consultations were by sector the following:
(a) intensifying efforts to counter Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its effects at national, European and international level, and strengthening cooperation to ensure stability in the Eastern Mediterranean;
(b) taking initiatives to ensure Europe ‘s energy efficiency, while at the same time decoupling from Russian gas and advancing Europe’ s goals for a green transition to climate neutrality;
(c) further promoting joint research and innovation programs, in particular in the fields of health, energy and life sciences, as twenty-four such programs have already been running for the last three years; and
d) taking initiatives, at national and European level, for the protection of labour and social policies, as necessary conditions to provide citizens with a dignified/decent living.
“I am very glad with today’s exchange of views and ideas with my German counterpart at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Michaelis, and with the high-level delegations of the Ministries that participated in the discussion. We worked on issues which are critical to the future of our two countries and of Europe as a whole, of course. And it is very encouraging that we share the same concerns with Germany and seek to strengthen our cooperation to address various challenges, based on our shared, European set of values “, Mr. Fragogiannis pointed out following the conclusion of the inter-ministerial consultations.