Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Greece as part of his first European tour since the Covid-19 pandemic, state news agency SPA reported.
The Crown Prince is also expected to travel to France after meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
His visits will focus on "strengthening relations in all fields", SPA reported.
It is the first time he has travelled to Europe since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Upon his arrival in Athens, he was met at Athens International Airport by Greek Deputy Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos before meeting with the Prime Minister.
Greece has forged close ties with Saudi Arabia in recent years as it seeks allies in the wider region to address long-standing tension with neighbour Turkey, mostly over maritime boundaries and offshore oil and gas drilling rights.
Last year, Greece and Saudi Arabia held joint military exercises out of the Greek island of Crete, and Athens lent the kingdom a missile battery from its Patriot air defence system.
The two countries are also planning a data cable link worth a reported 800 million euros that would run under the Mediterranean Sea and be completed in 2025.
The Saudi Crown Prince told reporters in Athens that the kingdom will help Greece establish the electrical interconnection network as well as discuss ways of cooperation in the field of green hydrogen projects.
The Royal Court issued a statement on Tuesday, saying the Crown Prince accepted the invitations based on the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman.
Both leaders visited Saudi Arabia last year and signed agreements to strengthen bilateral ties. The leaders are expected to discuss cooperation in energy and military defences.
In October, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with the Greek prime minister in Riyadh to strengthen bilateral relations.
Saudi Arabia's drug-enforcement agency helped Greek authorities capture of a huge shipment of cannabis valued at $33.7 million at Greece’s main port of Piraeus last year while Greece signed an agreement to deliver a Patriot air defence battery to the Kingdom.
"Our visit to Greece comes within the framework of the crown prince’s directives to strengthen and deepen the Saudi-Greek partnership, and to exploit the potentials and opportunities available on both sides in the economic, investment, commercial, cultural, tourism and other fields,” Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al Falih said after visiting Greece in September last year.
Earlier this month, French Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ludovic Pouille said France is eager to contribute to the implementation of the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030, a multi-sector national strategic plan for diversifying the country's economy.
“The visit of President Emmanuel Macron to Jeddah in December last year enabled us to strengthen our political dialogue and to launch very ambitious cooperation in all areas: Four intergovernmental agreements were signed in key sectors of the Saudi Vision 2030, tourism, culture, digital, and space."
Twenty-eight agreements were signed between French companies and Saudi institutions, worth more than SR50 billion ($13.31 billion) during the Franco-Saudi business forum held on the sidelines of the president’s visit.
