Trump extols Greek economic recovery at meeting with Mitsotakis

Energy, military procurement, military facilities in Greece, and crucial regional developments were among the top issues at the 7 January one-hour meeting between Donald Trump and PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the White House.

For Greece a presidential statement regarding Turkish violations of international law in the Southeast Mediterranean and the Aegean would have been welcome but there was no joint press conference after the talks. Many observers believed that was because Trump wanted to avoid questions on the assassination of Qassem Soleimani and the crisis with Iran.

The main opposition in Greece, SYRIZA, depicted the meeting as a failure of Greek diplomacy. Indeed it said with no small dose of hyperbole that the meeting was an "unprecedented fiasco".

In contrast with the State Department Trump avoided any criticism of Turkey for its intervention in Libya or on the Libya-Turkey EEZ accord that expropriates large swathes of Greece's EEZ.

Trump strongly praises Greek economy

Yet Trump extolled Greece's economic recovery during brief remarks by both leaders before the talks.

"In terms of percentage growth, we are talking about one of the biggest rebounds in the world. It's a huge recovery and you have done very well,» Trump observed.

That progress was largely made on the former administration's watch.

In that regard Mitsotakis solicited the support of Trump in drawing US investors to Greece. He underlined that many pro-business measures have been passed during his first six months in power, including business tax cuts.

«We look forward to your positive support, we want US businesses to invest in Greece so that we can expand the economy at a rate so striking that people will really feel the...

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