Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to attend the EU-African Union Summit.
He will depart for Munich on Friday afternoon to attend the annual Munich Security Conference at a critical geopolitical juncture, according to government sources.
According to the same sources, the EU Summit with African countries - which will be preceded by an informal meeting of European Council members to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine - seeks to lay the foundations for an ambitious partnership between the EU and Africa, which addresses the full range of challenges, from green transition and tackling the effects of climate change, to digital transformation and job creation, as well as migration and mobility.
The government's strategic choice is to open up and strengthen relations with sub-Saharan Africa, something that is already under way through "vaccine diplomacy", according to the same sources.
It is noted that Greece has already donated 3 million doses of vaccines to Africa. Regarding the energy and the green transition of the African continent, it is underlined that Greece already has a key role as a bridge between Europe and Africa through Egypt.
The agreement signed between Greece and Egypt last October on the electricity interconnection of the two countries, is the first project to connect Africa with Europe and makes Greece a bridge for the transfer of clean electricity from Africa to Europe, the government sources noted, adding that the Greek-Egyptian project is of great economic and geopolitical importance, as through it Europe can provide stable and cheap "clean" electricity and it has already been recognised as one of strategic importance by both the EU and the US.
On Thursday, Mitsotakis will meet with the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, and the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, and later will participate in a round-table discussion on climate change, energy change and energy transition, digitalisation and transport. On Friday morning, the prime minister and his Irish counterpart will co-chair a panel on agriculture and sustainable development, before Mitsotakis departs to attend the Munich Security Conference.
There, he will speak at a panel discussing how democratic principles are being undermined, along with US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht and Ivan Krastev as coordinator, while a series of contacts on the sidelines of the Conference have been scheduled.