Israel, Cyprus, and Greece agreed on Thursday to create a regional emergency task force to respond to emergencies such as the bush fires that burned across Israel a few weeks ago.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, for a second set of tripartate talks focused on regional cooperation.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office said that the regional emergency force will initially be composed of the three Mediterranean allies, but that they “want to add additional countries to a joint operations centre for emergency situations such as fires, earthquakes, flooding,” and other types of emergencies that may arise.
Greece and Cyprus were two of the first countries that sent planes to Israel.
The leaders of the three countries pledged “to plan a structure for the force and to divide its mission between different countries,” as it will “greatly help security” and protect the “lives of the citizens all the countries here in the region, as well as others.”
The talks were the second of a series of tripartite meetings meant to help the three countries deal with developing and exporting large gas reserves found recently in the eastern Mediterranean.
