Negotiations were held between the Energy and Water Resources Minister of Israel Silvan Shalom, the Cypriot minister of agriculture, natural resources and environment Nicos Kouyialis and the Greek minister of environment, energy and climate change George Lakkotrypis. The 2,000 megawatt EuroAsia Interconnector is planned to lift Cyprus and Israel out of energy isolation through cheaper electricity as supported by Lakkotrypis. Silvan Shalom announced that the agreement is "historic" and insisted that it demonstrated the powerful relations between the three countries adding that the electric conduit will become a cable and is going to export electricity to the European energy market. The Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras proclaimed on 8 August 2013 that Israel has a special role to play in supplying Europe with energy resources and supported that it can become a key energy hub. His statement at the White House occurred a few hours after the signing of an 800 million euro agreement to lay the EuroAsia Interconnector to connect the three countries' power grids. The three democratic states are making a systematic effort to establish a system of mutually beneficial cooperation across a wide range of activities. This includes intelligence cooperation, joint military drills, and the use of UAVs and satellites. The projects are designed to serve own interests as well as Europe and the States.