“Foreign policy challenges for 2023”
Our country’s foreign policy has always been governed by principles and is intertwined with stability, security, respect for the independence and territorial integrity of states, adherence to International Law and the International Law of the Sea. To defend our national values and interests, interact with our regional and international environment, and achieve our goals, we have chosen to pursue a constructive and fruitful foreign policy based on interdependent fields of action in the new year as well.
The first field is our presence in Europe, not only within the framework of the EU, of which we are one of the oldest members, with active participation in all its bodies and institutions and systematic work for its deepening and integration, but also on a bilateral level, with countries on the continent with which we are linked by ties of friendship and cooperation.
Developments in Europe, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now form a significantly differentiated landscape, which requires the vigilance of the European and international community to address the associated serious challenges and the forces of revisionism. And it is precisely these challenges of revisionism that are directly linked to our national interests. As I have made clear in my three visits to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, this narrative and this way of thinking can also turn the Eastern Mediterranean region into a “powder keg”.
However, in addition to developments on the battlefield, the energy and food crises may accelerate global developments, with a particular interest for our country, especially in the field of energy and Greece’s ability to contribute to Europe’s energy security.
The second field is our strategic cooperation relationship with the United States, which is founded on the joint protection of the values of freedom and democracy, on our participation in defense and other international organizations, as well as on the capitalization of Greece’s geopolitical importance for the promotion and consolidation of security and stability in the wider region.
The third field is a region with which our country maintains close historical and cultural ties since ancient times: Middle East, Gulf, North Africa. The situation in Libya remains an unsettled issue and we will work to resolve it, in a spirit of sincerity and mutual understanding, with the government that will emerge from the national elections in that country.
The fourth field is the Western Balkans, where Greece aims to maintain good neighbourly relations, consolidate stability and security, and create conditions for growth. To achieve these goals, Greece favours and supports the Western Balkans’ European perspective.
Asian countries such as India, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan, with which Greece shares common positions on international developments, as well as Australia, the continent that hosts a significant and vibrant Greek diaspora, constitute the fifth field of our actions. Our relations with the African continent, and especially with sub-Saharan Africa, constitute another area of interest for us, since the migratory flows from this region and the possibility of emerging hotbeds of terrorism are significant challenges in which our country can play an important role.
Lastly, Greece’s active presence in international and regional organisations is important, as it articulates a coherent and convincing discourse, presents crucial proposals and seeks innovative solutions to address global challenges and consolidate international cooperation. In 2023, we will continue our efforts to ensure that Greece is elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2025-2026 term in the 2024 vote.
It would be desirable that any reference to neighbouring Turkey in a framework of rivalry should be absent in a text that refers to the challenges of Greek foreign policy. However, our country faces an unprecedented crescendo of questioning and provocation, in terms of both duration and intensity, which is far from any notion of good neighbourliness. In this tug-of-war, we respond calmly and decisively with substantiated arguments based on International Law and the International Law of the Sea and we reiterate that the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country are not a subject for discussion and are not open to the slightest questioning.
In a rapidly changing international and regional environment, Greece’s foreign policy will continue to reflect the constant osmosis between national, regional and international developments and the challenges that determine them.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic