Wrapping up a meeting in Athens on Wednesday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades issued a joint declaration pledging to deepen trilateral cooperation on all fronts and to accelerate talks on delineating their adjacent Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) at sea.

“With awareness of the huge challenges in terms of stability, security and prosperity in the Eastern Mediterranean and the need for a coordinated and collective response, we met in Athens…for the third Trilateral Greece, Egypt and Cyprus Summit in order to deal effectively with these challenges and reinforce the foundations of trilateral cooperation in coming years,” the declaration said.

 “Within the framework of the trilateral and bilateral meetings we had, we confirmed once again the steady progress of our widespread and multilevel cooperation. Cooperation of peoples with long-standing ties, of countries in the same geographical area with common understanding and approach on a number of issues,” Tsipras said in joint statements with the Egyptian and Cyprus presidents.

“This day marks our commitment to the joint cooperation,” el-Sisi said and expressed his gratitude for the steps decided.