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Greece, France working to renew defence pact Salamina, Greece, Jan 29 (AFP) Jan 29, 2026 The defence ministers of Greece and France on Thursday said their countries were working to renew a 2021 defence cooperation agreement, under which Athens has purchased significant quantities of French-made weapons. "We agreed with the minister to finalise the renewal of this agreement very quickly, within one to two months," Greece's Nikos Dendias said after talks with his French counterpart Catherine Vautrin. The discussions were held at the naval base of Salamina on board the Kimon, a French-made Belharra frigate that sailed to Greece earlier this month. Athens has agreed to purchase four Belharra defence and intervention frigates (FDI), having already ordered 24 Rafale fighter jets. It has announced plans to spend a total of 25 billion euros ($30 billion) through 2036 in what conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called the "most drastic" defence overhaul in modern Greek history. The drive, which includes a new anti-missile, anti-aircraft and anti-drone defensive dome called "Achilles's Shield", is aimed at addressing rapidly changing geopolitical challenges and fraying transatlantic ties, the government has said. Greece has traditionally invested at least two percent of gross domestic product on defence -- NATO's longstanding spending target until recently -- owing to decades of tension with regional rival Turkey. |
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