A new U.S.-Eastern Mediterranean energy partnership has launched among the U.S., Greece, Cyprus, and Israel to establish energy security, peace, and stability in the region. The partnership, known as the 3+1 framework, aims to promote energy security, strengthen critical infrastructure, support emerging technologies, and advance long-term economic growth throughout the Eastern Mediterranean region to meet global energy demands.
Background
The partnership is an outworking of an initiative launched under the first Trump administration when Congress passed the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act of 2019. The act authorized the Department of State to enter into cooperative energy agreements with Greece, Cyprus, and Israel, and the Department of Energy to establish a joint U.S.-Eastern Mediterranean Energy Center in the United States.
On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced that the center would be housed at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston: the Eastern Mediterranean Energy Center (EMEC). Wright also signed a Declaration of Intent with the Greece Minister of Environment and Energy Stavros Papastavrou, Cyprus Minister of Energy, Commerce, and Industry Michael Damianos, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Dr. Yechiel Leiter, and Rice University President Reginald DesRoches.
Goals and Objectives
The goal of the partnership is to promote energy security, strengthen critical infrastructure, support emerging technologies, and advance long-term economic growth throughout the Eastern Mediterranean region to meet global energy demands. Focuses will be on natural gas development, U.S. LNG infrastructure, energy transportation networks, grid reliability, critical infrastructure resilience, as well as facilitating scientific and technical exchanges, research partnerships, workforce development initiatives, and engagement with industry stakeholders.
According to Wright, the energy industry is the most important industry in the world, as it enables every other industry. The Eastern Mediterranean region is an emerging energy powerhouse, and this agreement strengthens cooperation among key allies while advancing shared goals of energy abundance, economic prosperity, and regional stability.
Greece Minister Papastavrou said the countries were joining forces to deepen their strategic cooperation and strengthen regional connectivity. The new EMEC at Rice will provide a permanent framework for advancing regional stability, energy security, and economic cooperation by bringing together scientific knowledge, academic excellence, technological innovation, and energy expertise at one of the leading academic institutions in the world.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
