MOSCOW, (Sputnik), Anna Liatsou — Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced his resignation earlier this month to pave the way for early elections in a bid to secure popular support for his stance on the new 86-billion-euro ($96 billion at the current exchange rate) bailout package with the country's creditors. The vote is due to take place on September 20.
"Like it or not, I believe the Greek government, whatever it is, will continue to support the Greek business sector in developing its further collaboration with the Russian Federation and the Eurasian Union," Kouvelis, who is also a former Greek deputy foreign minister, said.
He added that the Greek business community would still be "looking very strongly for opportunities" to work with Eurasian Economic Union member-states.
"The actual fact remains: Greece is understandably highly interested in working with the Eurasian Union," Kouvelis said.
He explained the interest his country has in cooperating with the Eurasian Economic Union mainly by Greece's geographical location at the crossroads between East and West.
The Greek left-wing Syriza party, which won the general election in January, has taken a number of steps to accelerate economic and strategic cooperation with Russia and its EEU partners.
In particular, during the 2015 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF,) then-Greek Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak signed a memorandum on the construction of the extension of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline through Greece.
