ATHENS, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will sign an agreement here in January on the creation of the Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) natural gas pipeline, Greek national news agency AMNA reported Sunday.

Italy's signature will be added to the agreement in the future, AMNA added.

The 1900-km EastMed pipeline is planned to directly connect the region's energy sources to mainland Greece via Cyprus and the island of Crete, transporting natural gas from off-shore gas reserves in the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea into Greece, and in conjunction with other pipelines into Italy and other European regions.

The Greek government has said that the EastMed deal signing, slated for Jan. 2, was unrelated to the two controversial security memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed recently between Libya and Turkey.

One of the MoUs is a maritime boundary deal that covers areas also claimed by Greece, and was denounced by Greece, Egypt and Cyprus as a violation of international law.

According to AMNA, during a meeting earlier this month in Madrid between Greek Environment and Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis and Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, both sides reiterated their countries' support to the EastMed and the Israel-Cyprus-Greece electricity interconnection project.

During an interview with Greek broadcaster SKAI TV on Saturday, Hatzidakis said that the EastMed project would proceed "according to the international law." Enditem

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