Egypt's Sisi hosts Greece, Cyprus leaders for energy talks: What to know

Egypt hosted the leaders of Greece and Cyprus for a tripartite summit on Tuesday as Cairo looks to boost energy ties with both countries amid tensions in the eastern Mediterranean. What happened: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi held separate talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Cairo before they held a joint press conference. Sisi and Christodoulides discussed ways to increase cooperation on trade, investment, energy, tourism and transportation, the Egyptian state-owned news outlet Al-Ahram reported. Οι σχέσεις Κυπρου και Αιγύπτου είναι στρατηγικής φυσεως και βρίσκονται στο υψηλότερο από ποτέ επίπεδο. Σήμερα, ανάμεσα σε άλλα, επαναβεβαιώσαμε την κοινή πολιτική μας βούληση για περαιτέρω ενίσχυση της συνεργασίας μας σε όλους τους τομείς με ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στους τομείς της… pic.twitter.com/SJwGJGLisH — NikosChristodoulides (@Christodulides) September 8, 2026 Sisi and Mitsotakis held similarly themed talks on tourism, transportation, trade, investment and migration cooperation as well as electricity interconnection plans. Sisi hailed the development of security coordination between the three countries, according to Al-Ahram. 'The trilateral partnership between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece includes security and military coordination to address the challenges facing the region, foremost among them terrorism, organized crime and illegal migration,' said Sisi at the press conference. The three leaders met as part of the Egypt-Greece-Cyprus Trilateral Cooperation Mechanism. They last held a summit in January 2025, also in Cairo. Earlier on Tuesday, Sisi inaugurated the second-ever El Alamein International Airshow with Christodoulides in attendance, Egypt's State Information Service reported. Why it matters: Egypt has been looking to strengthen energy ties with Greece, Cyprus and others in the eastern Mediterranean in response to its own gas issues. Egypt and Cyprus signed a framework agreement for natural gas cooperation in March. A month later, the two countries issued a joint declaration specifying that they would work toward the 'development of gas fields, in the maritime zone of Cyprus, using Egyptian infrastructure and liquefaction facilities, for use in the Egyptian domestic market and onward export to other markets.' Egypt and Greece signed a memorandum of understanding in 2021 to establish an electricity interconnection project, dubbed GREGY, to transmit renewable electricity from Egypt to Greece. The two countries last held talks on the project in June and it is not yet operational. Egypt's gas production has declined considerably in recent years, largely due to natural reservoir depletion and water infiltration. Production at the Zohr field was 3.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day by the end of 2019, but fell to around 1.9 billion cubic feet per day by 2024, the year Egypt switched from being a liquefied natural gas exporter to an importer. The production shortfall has prompted Cairo to turn to imports as it looks to revive the industry. Sisi met with the Italian energy giant Eni last week in an effort to secure investment to reboot domestic production. Israel is now playing a bigger role in supplying Egypt's energy needs and Cairo signed an up-to-$35 billion deal with the operator of Israel's Leviathan field in August 2025 to import gas. Know more: The tripartite summit comes amid rising tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, largely involving Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Turkey. The Turkish Defense Ministry warned Greece and Cyprus in June over what it called 'arms races' in the region in response to both countries' growing defense cooperation with Israel. Late last month, Greece signed a $3.5 billion air defense deal with Israel. The Turkish and Greek intelligence chiefs met in Athens last week to discuss tensions in their bilateral relationship. Egypt has been publicly critical of Israel over the war in Gaza despite the deepening energy ties, and Sisi called for a two-state solution in the meetings with Mitsotakis and Christodoulides on Tuesday, Al-Ahram reported. Egypt has simultaneously looked to boost military cooperation with Turkey after years of fraught relations over Turkish support for the Muslim Brotherhood.