Israel and Cyprus Move Forward on Underwater Electric Cable Plan

Israel’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen met Wednesday with the Minister of Energy, Trade and Industry of Cyprus, George Papenstasio. During the meeting, it was agreed that the construction of the underwater electric cable that will connect Israel to Cyprus and from there reach Europe, will be promoted as a high priority.

The ministers toured the Reading Power Station in Tel Aviv together with the Director General of the Ministry of Energy Yossi Dayan, the Chairman of the Electricity Authority, Amir Shavit and other professionals from the Ministry and the Electricity Authority, in order to examine the possibility of establishing the underwater connection at the site. In addition, they agreed to strengthen the regional alliance between the countries and to continue and promote joint projects in the fields of energy.

During the meeting, the participants discussed the issue of cooperation in the field of energy, which holds great potential for both countries. Among other things, we discussed the acceleration of the submarine electric cable project (The Great Sea Interconnector) which will connect Israel’s electricity grid to Cyprus and from there to Greece, and to the European electricity grid.

In addition to the cable project, the ministers also discussed various initiatives for the development of natural gas transmission infrastructure in the Eastern Mediterranean region, including the Cyprus Gateway initiative to transfer natural gas through Cyprus to Europe, among other things from Israeli natural gas reservoirs, as well as the need to move forward in finding a solution to the issue of the cross-border natural gas reservoir Aphrodite –Ishii.