Greece-Turkiye High-level Cooperation Council 'one more step' in improving relations, sources note

The same sources noted that the meeting of the HCC after a seven-year hiatus - during which tension in Greek-Turkish relations came to a brink - strives to signal a mutual will for cooperation that benefits both countries and the normalisation of relations in a spirit of mutual sincerity and good-neighbourly relations, given that it is taking place after the conclusion of the first round of the road map of contacts agreed by the foreign ministers of the two countries.

"The aim is to establish calm and for the improvement in bilateral relations to be sealed with agreements that benefit both countries. The disagreements remain, but the goal is that the disagreements should not generate bilateral crises," the sources said.

Participation and programme

Following the key axes of cooperation agreed jointly at the highest political level, participants in the HCC will include the ministers responsible for defence, migration, culture, tourism, economic affairs and education, in addition to the foreign ministry's leadership.

The meeting, as revealed by sources, will start on the morning of December 7 with the ministers of Greece and Turkiye having bilateral contacts at the foreign ministry and other ministries.

Simultaneously, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be having a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Maximos Mansion with the same teams as during their previous meetings in Vilnius and New York. The two leaders will then hold a joint press conference and then jointly chair a meeting of the full HCC, over a working lunch at the Maximos Mansion.