Greece, Iran eyeing surge in energy cooperation

Greek Ambassador to Iran Nikolas Garilidis said the prospects of his country's cooperation with Iran in the oil sector are bright. Garilidis said his country is not importing any oil from Iran at present, "but we are very hopeful about the future". Referring to sanctions he said that relations will not remain the same forever because Iran is a major player in oil and gas scene. Garilidis continued world relations are based on interdependency so the countries have no choice but to move toward boosting cooperation and that is why it is expected Iran’s and EU relations to be expanded. He continued: the same is true about the relations of other countries with Iran. Greece is neighbor with Turkey which is located west of Iran and imports part of its oil and gas from Iran. Existence of infrastructures facilitates extension of Iran-Turkey gas pipeline to the European country in case of reaching an agreement on the issue. The Greek envoy met with Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister for commercial and international affairs Mansour Moazzami in Tehran this week. Moazzami also held talks with South Korean ambassador to Iran this week. Greece and South Korea are the traditional customers of Iran’s oil in Europe and Asia.