Athens: After both countries' elections next month, Greece said on Tuesday, it would welcome increased cooperation with Turkey, including on energy issues that have been at the centre of long-standing disagreements.

After talks with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Athens, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias declared, "Greece is always looking for ways to have honest and sincere cooperation with Turkey."

Following the devastating earthquakes in southern Turkey in February, high-level meetings between Greek and Turkish officials have been held recently. They pledged to put an end to disagreements that have repeatedly raised the stakes and even raised the possibility of war over the years.

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Dendias declared that Athens would be open to joining a group of countries in the eastern Mediterranean that collaborate on natural gas development. Turkiye is not a member right now.

I want to be clear that we would welcome other nations' participation in this forum, but only under the simple condition that they uphold international law, specifically the international law of the sea. The East Mediterranean Gas Forum currently includes Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority among its members.

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Over the following ten years, Greece and Egypt also intend to construct a 3.5 billion euro ($3.8 billion) undersea grid connector across the Mediterranean. The Copelouzos Group, a Greek energy company, will be in charge of the project.

Greece has claimed certain areas in the eastern Mediterranean as having potential gas reserves, which Turkiye has disputed. The two nations held competitive naval drills in the region in 2020 as tensions grew.

In conflict with Turkiye's competing plans, Egypt and Greece and Cyprus agreed to a bilateral agreement on sea exploration boundaries in 2021 and 2020, respectively.

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Shoukry is scheduled to continue his journey to Ankara after his stop in Athens because Ankara has recently started initiatives to strengthen relations with both Egypt and Greece.

Elections will take place in Greece a week after Turkiye on May 14. On Tuesday, Shoukry also spoke with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister.