NEW YORK – Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday addressed the United Nations Summit of the Future in New York, underlined that “there are global threats that demand global solutions”, among others.

“We have the opportunity to do something before it is too late, before we get to the next real global crisis,” the Greek premier said” noting that it was still possible to “turn it around” and avert disaster.

The Summit of the Future was convened by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as part of the broader efforts of the UN to tackle critical global challenges, such as geopolitical tensions, economic instability, human rights, digital governance and threats to world peace and reforms to the international system so that it is ready for the future.

At UN, Mitsotakis, Macron, Christodoulides Will Talk Energy, EastMed

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is due to meet French President Emmanuel Macron and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides during the United Nations assembly in New York to discuss a key energy connection.

Also on the agenda, said The Cyprus News Agency, are tensions over the Eastern Mediterranean and Mideast, especially Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip in a hunt for Hamas terrorists and the war expanding into Lebanon against Hezbollah.

Foremost for them is the Israel-Cyprus-Greece power grid connection known as the Great Sea Interconnector although Greece supported a pro-Palestinian resolution In a statement, spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said that the three leaders will use the sidelines of the annual assembly in New York to talk about the energy link and ways to possibly descalate the growing Mideast war.

The energy project will connect the three countries’ grids via the world’s longest submarine power cable, with a total length of 1,208 kilometers (750.6 miles) and link Israel to the rest of the European Union power grids.

The three will also meet in Paphos, Cyprus on Oct. 11 at the so-called Med9 meeting, an informal group set in 2013 by Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain, joined by Croatia and Slovenia in 2021.

Cyprus and Greece have just signed a framework of understanding” about the  section connector tying Cyprus to Crete, an agreement inked by Cypriot Energy Minister George Papanastasiou and Greek Energy Minister  Theodoros Skylakakis.

That paved the way for the laying of cables under the sea set to restart imminently as they described the project as one of “strategic importance for Cyprus, Greece, and the entire European Union,” said The Cyprus Mail.

The announcement said it “will not only connect Cyprus to the European electricity system, facilitating its energy transition, but at the same time also promote Greece’s goal of becoming a clean energy transport corridor.”

Letymbiotis said both Christodoulides and Macron had “underlined the importance of this project of common interest for the implementation of the European Union’s energy goals, with Israel being drawn in.