Rubio arrives in Athens tonight for the U.S.–Greece Strategic Dialogue: energy, defence and Turkey in focus

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in Athens tonight, where he will lead the American delegation at the sixth U.S.–Greece Strategic Dialogue, on 6–7 October, as New Greek TV reports. The visit follows his stop in Iceland and comes before the one in Portugal, and is part of a four-day tour of NATO allies in Europe, according to reporting by RFE/RL.

Rubio, who will meet Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is the first sitting Secretary of State to lead the strategic dialogue — a forum launched in 2018 for bilateral cooperation. Greek officials describe the visit as one of the high points of bilateral relations, while government sources stress that this time the American secretary will not also stop in Ankara.

According to the U.S. State Department, the main priorities of the talks are regional and energy security, alongside defence. At the centre of the energy agenda is expected to be the Vertical Corridor for transporting American liquefied natural gas to the Balkans and to Central and Eastern Europe, hydrocarbon exploration and electricity interconnection projects — among them the Greece–Cyprus cable. Also on the table will be the 3+1 format linking Greece, Cyprus, Israel and the U.S.

Athens plans to raise Turkey’s recent challenges to Greek activities in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean, which Greece considers fully within its sovereign rights, and will seek respect for international law and the law of the sea, according to the same reporting. Also under Greek scrutiny is the debate in Washington over Turkey’s possible return to the F-35 programme: Rubio has stated that Turkey cannot return as long as it keeps the Russian S-400 air defence system, because of the U.S. law in force.

In defence, on the table will be the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement, the strategic role of the bases at Souda Bay and Alexandroupoli, and Greece’s order of F-35 aircraft. As former U.S. ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt noted, the dialogue was created precisely as a forum to advance the strong bilateral cooperation agenda, regardless of other regional relationships — and military cooperation, energy opportunities and people-to-people ties have remained constant under Republican and Democratic administrations alike.

“Greece is a very important ally for the U.S. … It is a country where we have not only a military presence, but also strong economic ties. So it is an opportunity to go there and meet them,” Rubio said before departing, according to Greek media reporting.