Building on the positive climate of recent high level meetings between the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Türkiye, and in line with the tasking given by the leaders of the two countries and the road map agreed upon by their Foreign Ministers, the Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye and Greece, Ambassador Burak Akçapar and Mr. Konstantinos Fragogiannis, respectively, met on October 16, 2023 in Athens for the 5th round of discussions on the Joint Action Plan within the scope of the Positive Agenda between the two countries.

The two sides reaffirmed their common goal to provide concrete outcomes for the 5th High-Level Cooperation Council (HLCC) meeting to be held on 7 December 2023 in Thessaloniki on items of the Positive Agenda such as business-economy, tourism, transportation, energy, science and technology, agriculture, environment, social security & health, youth, education and sports.

In the same spirit, on October 17, 2023, Deputy Foreign Ministers Ambassador Alexandra Papadopoulou and Ambassador Burak Akçapar held regular political consultations.

Bilateral relations, regional and international issues were discussed. The two sides agreed to build on the existing positive atmosphere in order to identify areas of agreement and cooperation, both at the bilateral and the international level. They reviewed the preparations for the upcoming HLCC in December, as well as the existing dialogue channels including confidence building measures and exploratory/consultative talks. In that respect, the two sides expressed their commitment to continuing these dialogue channels, in view of reaching a common understanding.