Greece has completed the licensing procedures required for survey and cable-laying work linked to the planned Great Sea Interconnector, the country's foreign ministry said on Friday, advancing a long-delayed project opposed by Turkey.
The ministry said Greek authorities had finalised the approval process after French cable maker Nexans, acting on behalf of project company GSI, applied for permits covering seabed surveys and cable-laying operations.
Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis signed the decision authorising the work following a positive recommendation from the inter-ministerial committee responsible for marine research permits, the ministry said.
A research vessel involved in the project subsequently requested and received a NAVTEX notice to mariners for the operations.
The €1.9 billion ($2.1 billion) project, being developed by Greece's power grid operator IPTO, aims to link the power grids of Greece and Cyprus, and later Israel, through an undersea cable, but progress has been slowed by a dispute between Greece and Turkey over maritime zones in the eastern Mediterranean.
(Reporting by Antonis Pothitos; Editing by Louise Heavens)