Diplomacy + Foreign Trade on 16 August 2020
Brinkmanship in the EastMed as Turkey refuses to back down in Greece gas standoff: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that Turkey “will not back down” from its gas exploration efforts in the eastern Mediterranean under threat of sanctions, Reuters reports. Turkey and Greece have been locked in a standoff after Ankara last week began a seismic survey in a disputed area that Athens claims as its own.
Risks are growing as warships mobilize: A Greek and a Turkish warship collided in the Mediterranean on Wednesday in what a Greek defense official characterised as an accident but Ankara denounced as a provocation. Ankara sent its exploratory vessel, the Oruc Reis, into the Med accompanied by warships, leading Greece to put its military on high alert and stage military exercises with France, which sent naval vessels and fighter jets to the region last week.
The EU is urgently trying to dial back tensions: EU foreign ministers held emergency talks on Friday to try and find a diplomatic solution to the dispute, the Associated Press reports.
AID TO BEIRUT: Egypt has sent three more planes to Beirut carrying 28 tonnes of food and medical aid. A total of 12 planes with supplies of 220 tonnes will be sent over the coming two weeks, with three planned every two days until the end of August, Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Yasser Elwi said.
Suez Canal traffic was up 4% in the state’s 2019-2020 fiscal year, according to Cabinet's media center (pdf) reports. Canal revenues inched down slightly in the year ending 30 June to USD 5.7 bn, compared to USD 5.8 bn in the previous year, as traffic slumped 18.5% thanks to corona-fuelled dip in global trade in April through June 2020..
SCZone plans industrial zone for Brazilian firms: The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) is planning on designating an industrial zone for Brazilian businesses to set up logistics and industrial hubs in the near future, SCZone head Yehia Zaki said last week, according to a statement. The zone could reduce export costs by 25-50% and halve shipping time, Zaki said.