EastMed project to depend on financial feasibility study
Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said on Monday that a financial feasibility study will show whether the EastMed gas pipeline is viable.
Asked by the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) to comment on media reports about EastMed and the US stance toward the project, Kasoulides said that “we are now expecting the results of the feasibility study and if they are positive then we will proceed to look into the other issues. If not, EastMed is not attainable.” He added that the European Commission has undertaken to finance the feasibility study.
Kasoulides noted that this is a project that requires a huge investment and that its implementation could only proceed if it would be self-financed.
Asked if Nicosia is concerned by statements made by the US and the position outlined by Amos Hochstein, the special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs who leads the Bureau of Energy Resources at the US Department of State, Kasoulides replied, “No, we are not concerned for the simple reason that what Hochstein is now saying, we were saying as well since the decision was taken to have a financial feasibility study.”
