EastMed deal to be 'signed in a few weeks'

Israel's Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Monday his country was hoping to sign a deal for the construction of the 2,000-kilometer EastMed pipeline, which will cross from Israel and Cyprus into Greece and Italy, "in a few weeks' time."

In an interview on the sidelines of a regional gas forum in Cairo, Steinitz said Israel and Egypt had discussed ways of extending cooperation on natural gas, including through exports.

"Israel exporting natural gas to the Arab world and also to Europe - this is something that sounded like a dream or a fantasy just 10 or 15 years ago," said Steinitz, the first energy minister to visit Egypt since the 2011 uprising there.

[Reuters]