Ladies and gentlemen,
It is with a real pleasure to welcome to Athens my fellow heads of State and government for what is officially the 1st MED9 meeting with the addition of Slovenia and Croatia.
I am also particularly happy that on the agenda we will have the issue of the Climate Crisis that the Mediterranean is facing today.
We will have the opportunity to adopt the “Athens Declaration”, which sets out the priorities of the Mediterranean and Southern countries in addressing the Climate Crisis which particularly affects our common sea, the Mediterranean.
We will also have the opportunity to discuss other important geopolitical issues, ranging from Afghanistan to the Covid pandemic and, of course, it will be a chance to reaffirm our commitment towards the important targets that we have set, by the middle of the century, to turn Europe into the first climate-neutral content.
So, I do hope that we will have very, very productive meetings and I am happy that we were able to expand the scope of the MED7 to also include our friends from Slovenia and Croatia.
