“Minister El Molla, distinguished guests,

I’m thrilled to be here today.

At a geographical crossroads linking all parts of the Mediterranean.

And at an energy crossroads just as much.

The past year, time and again, we have had to rethink what we know about our global energy markets.

Despite this, our focus remains on two pillars for a thriving energy future – security and sustainability.

And I’m going to speak about both today.

First by looking at where we are. And then by speaking about where we are going.

I don’t need to tell you that in the current geopolitical context energy security is top of our minds.

And energy relations have never been more important than they are today.

The EU is serious about investing in trusted, reliable energy partnerships. That describes Egypt perfectly.

In the immediate wake of the crisis a year ago, the very first energy agreement the EU concluded was the Memorandum of Understanding with Egypt and Israel on trade, transport and natural gas cooperation.

Concluded in record time.

A remarkable political milestone for energy.

And something we are very proud of. And let me say again today how grateful I am to both Egypt and Israel, for their cooperation to turn the political vision of mutual cooperation into a reality.

Building new partnership is key as the EU is moving away from gas supplies from Russia. For us, Russia is not a reliable energy partner. Time and again it has tried to manipulate the EU energy markets and use energy as a source of blackmail. That means that the EU’s relationship with Russia is broken. This however creates a window of opportunity for the EU’s trusted partners.

Thanks to the landmark agreement with Egypt and Israel, at the height of the energy crisis the EU could count on this partnership.

And it was central to our efforts to diversify and stabilise the supplies for our citizens. […]”