Energy issues were a key topic at the meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

After the meeting, it was announced that the leaders of Israel, Greece and Cyprus will likely hold a three-way meeting in Cyprus in January to be focused on energy.

Tsipras told a press conference that he discussed working with Israel to develop and transport natural gas to Europe.

“One of the main issues in our talks today were the opportunities arising in the fields of energy, the fields of energy in the East Mediterranean. We are considering ways on cooperation in research, drilling and transportation of gas from Israel to Europe,” he said. Large gas fields have been discovered off Israel's coast.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades was in Israel earlier this month, also for talks dominated by the energy question.

This was the first visit ever to Israel for Tsipras, who is the leader of Greece’s extreme-left Syriza party.

During the visit, the Greek Prime Minister Tsipras met also with opposition leader Isaac Herzog.

He is scheduled to meet on Thursday with President Reuven Rivlin before going to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Netanyahu caracterized his talks with Tsipras as “broad, deep and productive.”

He said Israel and Greece have a common interest in exploring opportunities, while at the same time pushing back against dangers emanating from “violent religious fundamentalism,” which wants to control the world and is sweeping through the Middle East, North Africa and other parts of the world.

Netanyahu praised Tsipras for the economic steps he is taking, and said he had to take similarly difficult economic steps in Israel in the past. He said he believes the Greek economy would “bounce back,” and that he would encourage Israelis to invest there.

Tsipras said it is well known that in the last few years great efforts have been made to strengthen the ties between Israel and Greece.

“We are on the way toward strategic cooperation, but we should not forget that there are other directions where we should also focus,” he said.

He specifically mentioned tourism as some 350,000 Israelis visited Greece this year.